Finaldimension Neptunia X
by Steelux
Summary: The goddesses live their lives in peace, after the events of the Ultradimension. However, when new entities appear in their own dimension, distinguishing friend or foe becomes troubling. With mobile gaming and the PC realm joining the fray, who will stand up in the end to claim their own fraction of Gamindustri's Share energy?
1. Chapter 0 - Reveal

_Author's Note: This story follow the main games' continuity, happening right after Re;Birth 3, almost as an alternative to VII's story. Although some characters like Uzume will be left out of the story (unless I find a way to place them into it), I felt like it was the best option for what this fic is trying to accomplish. Everything but OC characters is meant to follow the traits of the goddesses you love, so enjoy. ^^_

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"Nobody can stand up to me! I will be your goddess!"

The earth snapped from the inside out, the cracks around it glowing eerily in a dark red tone. As the entity floating above rose its' two arms towards the dark sky, the cracks grew in length, spreading towards the makeshift housing that had been settled in a few meters from her position.

The screaming only got louder as the destruction spread. Dashing in the opposite direction, the humans below fled the scene, with all of theirs left behind while they attempted to save their lives one more time. The building, hardly solid in the first place, shook and crumbled onto the shifting ground under them, which slowly rose away from the rock below with the entity's slow gesture.

"That's right… everyone will fall under me…"

Her free hand, endowed by a dark-red silk glove, met the sleeve of her skin-tight suit of the same material, darker than red wine, covered on the torso area by a diagonally-striped light-red mantle, whose back end flew aggressively against the strong wind. As if controlling the forces of nature themselves, her hands glowed brightly in the same red colors, slammed down against the air below her.

The entire area shook. Previously weakened by her grasp, the soil sunk deep below with her last action, sending people, objects and entire buildings into the darkness below with a spine-chilling crunch. The female's face was covered by malice, full enjoyment of the situation at hand.

"That's right! I AM THE ONE!". Her arms shook a bit, perhaps too intimated by her own power. "G-g-g-what?"

She smirked instantly. Even her own body was afraid of what it could do! What a time to be alive. After a dozen city destructions, her power stood as high as ever.

"G-G-GAAAAAAAAAH!"

In an instant, the female held onto her own chest, both hands grasping at the left side. She tried to contain her own screaming, in a harsh fit of pain, while the energy that surrounded her arms emanated away, drawn down, away from her body. Soon after, she felt her own grasp weaken, no matter how hard she squeezed her bust.

Deeper down, the goddess was little more than a shadow, barely colored by her own red light. From eyes at ground level, the body flew down, tumbling across the air at increasing speeds. Smacked across the earth, she left a small crater on her point of impact, away from the pulverized soil, face down to eat from the destruction that she had caused.

Silence ensued. The winds that breezed through the land carried an ominous tone, following an immense battle that lasted for a single move. The dust it lifted, eager to finally be at rest, covered the living, the passed-out goddess, and the rocks covering the zone. After such an attack, not a semblance of the buildings remained, wood or metal.

The woman opened her eyes.

In her sight, everything was but an immense field of destruction. The previously flat earth, rich with buildings and humanity, crumbled into itself to form a darkened depression, without a single light to brighten it. She saw her efforts fulfilled, but her body paid the price: even with great effort, her arms and legs barely moved, unable to lift herself away from the filth under her.

"Ugh…", she kept grunting to herself, soon after with a smile. "This is unbelievable… At some point, I gained more power than my own body could handle…". The share energy was still ingrained inside her. With the flick of a switch, she burst away from the depraved soil, high in the air as she sent out a maniacal fit of laughter, "There's nothing here! Nothing can survive my-".

Her breath left the two nostrils. Between the rubble, along dirt and dust, something spherical was placed, reflecting light as if possessing an otherwordly power. It didn't shine, not did it mirror the surroundings; the view of whatever stood inside was twisted and distorted, far beyond recognition, as if anything inside was recognizable after the goddess's actions.

"Perhaps… That, too, is my power!", she whispered to herself. She reached towards the sphere, attempting to control it somehow, but it didn't budge. She narrowed her eyes, slightly doubtful, dropping her hand soon after. "Strange". Suddenly, the orb disappeared, warping away from top to bottom in a flash. Inside it, a few pieces of rock were piled up together, much bigger than anything around, and they too dropped to reveal natural movement in the dead village.

Higher up, the red entity's fists and teeth clenched tight, her perfect vision ruined. The human down below stood up, shaking the dirt from her face and clothes, with her eyes on the destroyer the moment she could open them, without looking in any other direction. "W-What kind of joke is THIS?!"

The unknown villager smiled. Before the destruction surrounding her, her eyes brightened up at the sight of the goddess, rising one hand to gain her attention. "You missed me!", her young, high voice shouted towards the older-looking deity floating above. Her outfit, stained from the dust in the scene, dulled her tight outfit, fully black in the chest and back. Both of her sleeves were covered in synthetic fur, tightened around her wrists. In her right hand, a rectangular shape of the same color was held.

"M-Missed you…?", the deity shouted between her teeth. "I'll show you… nobody can survive this!", she repeated, with her hands again glowing in an eerily red tone, ready for more. To the contrary of the state she had been in just before, she dove right into the zone, with her empowered fists crackling with energy.

"The world is always evolving…", the human answered. In her hand, the object lit up, the small screen now full of color. Calmly, she tapped on it while talking to herself, "This time, you won't keep up with me, Red…"

"This is the last sight I'll grant you!". Her strong, female voice echoed around the deserted plain as she came into range for the attack.

"Beta Version, Null Field!"

The goddess stopped in place, with her members going numb over a few seconds. The human's device was held high, emanating a shockwave that caught everything a few dozen meters around in a distorted field, shaking the deity's energy away like it had no connection to her.

"Graphic Field!"

Suddenly, the whole atmosphere shifted. Along the floor, a bright light spread, blinding the red eyes of the attacker. While she covered them, buildings rose from the light, makeshift structures spreading across the zone she had control over. Between them, zapped into existence, a myriad of humanoids stood up, looking at the sky in wonder, admiring the city that grew right in front of their faces.

"W-W-W… W-What are you…"

"Witness the power… the magic of MOBILE!"


	2. Chapter 1 - Arrival

"Ugh… Bleh…"

A pair of thin, feminine legs stepped across an infinite desert. Every time her purple boots sank into the sand, her body lost another bit of its' fading strength.

"W-Water…"

The purple-haired girl looked up, towards the blazing sky. Her striped thigh-highs ripped further apart with every slight movement, the white and light-blue blending together with her pale, slightly sunburnt skin.

"Aaaaaaaah, why did I end up this way?!". Waving her arms around, she complained to herself in her loudest voice. "All I want is some pudding, ahnf…", she mumbled between her dried lips, looking into the distance one last time.

Over the horizon, planted flat on the desert's sand, stood a massive blob of perfectly stable pudding, with sweet caramel oozing from the top, in wide rivers of goodness. Under the hot sun, it shined brightly, almost blinding the poor girl.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!?", she screamed, drooling like an epileptic. With her arms wide open, she dashed towards the delicious treat, trotting through the warm sand in slow-motion, while her eyes shed tears of joy that floated in the air around her. "PUDDING!"

In an instant, she lost her footing, slowly leaning towards her back. In front of her, the meters of sand erupted violently, scattered around the volcanic spot as a gigantic creature spawned between the girl and her beloved dessert. Shaking its' long body to the sides, the beast turned the gargantuan mouth towards the female.

"AAAAH, it's a huge desert worm!", she babbled from the top of her lungs.

The creature sprouted a long tongue, its' mouth shaped to fit human speech.

"Neptune, wake up right this instant!"

"AAAAAAAAH, IT'S A HISTY-SOUNDING DESERT WORM!", the girl shouted, in guttural tones.

"You mustn't slack off-"

The purple girl lifted her head from her pillow, bellowing in fear, "SHE'S ALREADY SCOLDING MEEEEEE!"

"Nep-tu-ne!", her companion shouted back, pronouncing each syllable.

"Nepgear, help me-", the girl continued, before looking aside to see Planeptune's Oracle floating next to her bed, giving her a death stare from a few inches away. "Oh, hey Histy."

"What are you doing in bed at this time of the day? Get up immediately!", the smaller female ordered with a firm tone, floating across the floor with the bed sheets in her hands to leave the other girl in the cold.

"Wowowowow… are you Pissty?". Backing away in her purple pajamas, the young goddess tried to cover herself.

"Yes, I am "Pissty", very much so!", the angry Oracle answered, gaining height to float above the bed and approach Neptune. "You can't keep slacking off like you've been doing all this time!"

"Sis, you have to listen to Histy…", a new voice pointed out, coming from the open door of Neptune's bedroom. In a similar outfit to the goddess's usual one, her younger sister walked inside, in an attempt to disrupt the conflict.

The miniature girl kept shouting in her assertive tone, "We are in the CPU Shift Period, Neptune! If you keep doing nothing, you will lose all of your Shares and your position as Planeptune's CPU!"

The goddess immediately scoffed at her Oracle's statement. "No way, Histy, my citizens love me! They'll never abandon me, no matter what, so I can just sit back-", she declared, sure of herself, leaning back on the bed. "-and relax…"

Histoired lowered her head. Her big eyes, shaking in anger, were covered in darkness, the upper half of her face shadowed in a similar fashion to Lowee's CPU, just before the snow queen burst into anger. Clenching her two tiny fists, she sprouted two straight wings, beaming light that barely missed the little sister's body.

Neptune, curious about the sound Histy was making, opened one eye to peek at her. Her large, purple pupil, still with a drowzy look, shrunk into almost nothing the moment she saw Histoire curl into herself in anger.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAH!", she shouted one last time, leaving her sacred bed behind to run for her life, sprinting away in her pajamas as if avoiding the plague.

In an instant, the Oracle relaxed her tense body. "I can't believe what she's doing…", she added, letting her wings of light disappear into thin air.

"Ahaha, yeah…", Nepgear answered, scratching her head. "Neptune never changes…"

"This is on you too, Nepgear, you spoil her too much!"

"Eeeeeeh? B-But I didn't even do anything!", the Candidate protested, somewhat hesitant about her position.

"You did not, because I was here. If I had not interrupted her slumber, you would have arrived here, only to wake her up and bring her breakfast to bed, isn't that right?"

She immediately stepped away, grinning in embarassment "Hehehe… guilty as charged…"

"This has to stop!", Histoire concluded, with her right index finger up in the air, next to her face. "I will lecture you until you learn not to babysit Neptune!"

"W-Wait, no, why am I getting punished for what my sister did?!". Despite the escape attempt, Histoire was already pushing her against the wall with her stare, running her mouth at an incredible pace about a Candidate's responsibilities.

Further away, the main goddess changed into her usual clothes. After the scare, her laziness was nowhere to be seen, and neither was she, after she ran away of the Basilicom. With the birds chirping around herself, she mumbled complaints one after another, already longing for the sweet comfort of her bed even before leaving the city.

"Uhm…", she silently repeated to herself, "I should go to that spot…"

Far out of the city, she found herself in a calm field, surrounded by pink trees. Straight and upright, she inhaled all of the pure air she could manage, eager to regain the usual cheerfulness of Nep. She walked and walked across the green, cemented fields, zig-zagging between the blossomed trees and their falling leaves, having found a little game right in the spot in almost no time.

"Yah, yah, yah!", she shouted in excitement. The slow leaves, as numerous as they were, stood no chance against the reflexes of an experienced goddess, as she kept on telling them over and over, far too happy about her energy while it lasted. Suddenly, she felt a breeze refresh her warm face. The leaves, previously aligned, dashed towards the left to ruin her effort, the girl in a frenzy about the unfairness of the situation until she tripped on herself, landing face-first into the lush grass.

"Mnnnh…". She turned around, facing the blue sky, with her soft mattress in her mind. "Mnnaah~"

In less than a minute, she was fast-asleep, lying right next to a robust tree, under its' big shadow. In the Basilicom, Nepgear ran around the main floor in search of her older sister, worried about the disappearance despite Histoire's advice. She doesn't do well by herself, she insisted, with memory of the events leading up to the Ultradimension.

A few hours later, the goddess opened her eyes, smiling at the undisturbed nap she had just been blessed with. Standing up, she saw the place where she laid down at, already under the bright sun.

"Yaaaaawn… Mmmm, taking a nap in the warmth of the Planeptune sun is the best!", she said to herself, growing a concerned smile, "…Although, I kinda feel like I just had a super creepy dream…"

In front of her, a bright light spawned out on thin air, barely disturbing the girl. Right as she finished talking, the crack in the air roared across the entire area, emanating energy like a miniature sun. "Aaaaaah!", the goddess shouted as she landed on her rear, projected back by the initial shockwave.

She covered her eyes, unable to look away from the strange event. The earth around her shook, as did the leaves of every tree in the vicinity. The bright yellow light kept going strong until the crack in the dimension lost its' power, phasing away with an incredible warping noise, alternating between a high and a low pitch every second.

"Aaah, my ears…", she whispered to herself, covering them after the light had disappeared. "Why can't the main character sit still, without triggering a chapter-starting event… that's what that was, right?"

She turned her eyes to the sky, calm as ever before. The forest was as soothing as she had found it, despite the world-ending appearance of the rift. The gentle breeze waved her short hair back and forth, a slight comfort to her senses.

Just as the goddess was about to leave, the ground shook once more in the distance. "…What is THAT?", she asked herself, both eyes on the black entity that moved away from the grass. "Who is that…?"

The other person got up, complaining left and right while she held onto her side with her left hand. Her outfit was mostly black, and the front side of it was shiny like metal, reflecting the sunlight it caught on instead of absorbing all of it. The sleeves were covered with dark fur, almost black, and her legs stood inside a pair of thin, slim leggings, just as black as everything else.

"Heey!", the goddess shouted to the newcomer, approaching her without hesitation. "Are you okay?"

Instead of an answer, the other girl looked around. "W-Where am I?", she asked in a slightly acute tone.

"You're in…". Neptune glanced towards her previous sleeping spot, tilting her head to the side. "…my napping area."

"Oh, my… I'm so sorry if I woke you up!", the newcomer shouter, bent forward in respect. "My appearance was so sudden, I couldn't stop myself…"

"Where did you come from?", the purple-haired girl asked once more, looking around in search of any remains of the mysterious portal. "I've been around for a long while, and I've never seen anything like that!"

"Ahaha, I'm sorry, once more…", the other replied, her red eyes turned to the flat object in her hand, "…CRISTA, where are we?"

Neptune leaned her head closer to her new companion, wondering who her words were for. Seeing a phone, she quieted down, the curiosity scratching her body from inside. The strong winds that accompanied the newcomer's arrival had long subsided, all the trees instead flowing with the gentle breeze, with leaves falling off here and there.

"…Analyzing location, Rn positioning in place…"

Nep looked again, unable to miss that synthetic voice. The phone's screen displayed a circle with a radius line rotating around the center, a radar of some sort.

"…WARNING! Share energy holder detected, 3,2 meters in front of you!…"

The phone girl appeared as if she was in the middle of a heart attack. Without an answer, she opened her free hand, the sounds of electricity crackling around the grass underneath as the goddess felt her control dart away from herself.

"Aaa… aaaagh…"

Neptune floated in the air, surrounding by a dense, yellow electric field that bound her to the newcomer's will, left arm raised towards the threat while the other kept holding the phone. "What else, CRISTA?"

"…Current location unknown. There's no available signal from your dimension, indicating an almost undeniable dimensional teleportation. Identifying current connection signals…"

"Let me go!", the goddess shouted, visibly uncomfortable in her position, "I did nothing to you!". The field around her remained with the same strength, audibly crackling through the air, but without harming the captured deity.

"I will not tolerate a goddess' impertinence! You will see what I can do with you, when I'm done with the background checks…"

"…Connection established. Downloading chunks into database…"

"Forget the database, CRISTA. Just tell me where the nearest human city is."

"…Downloading…"

"Stop messing with me already, you mean thing!"

"…I believe you told me that you wanted me to sound more… mechanical…"

"Whatever, just tell me what I asked for."

"…There are no human cities identifiable in my system…", the mature female voice replied, taking the emotion out of the girl's face. "…I see a few big cities, one of them near this place, but they're all goddess-controlled…"

"We don't control our cities!", the trapped girl shouted immediately after, "We just manage them a bit to help them grow, or at least Histy does…"

The girl in black shook her fist in response, angry at the goddess' brash statement, cursing her for the position she had.

"…Drop it, Mobie.". The electrical field immediately dispersed into the surroundings, leaving Neptune back on her feet. "…This place behaves in no way similar to ours…"

The girl nodded, far too quick to follow judgement. In turn, the goddess stretched her body, enjoying the feel of freedom until her new nemesis approached her, considerably passive. "What was that for!?"

"I'm sorry… I have an itchy trigger finger sometimes, but I promise I won't attack you without reason again. My name is MOBILE, and I've just traversed dimensions into a… very different place."

Neptune stared at MOBILE, still unsure of what to think about the new appearance. Up close, she saw the girl's thick coat reflecting the goddess's lower half back into her eyes, as well as any mirror would do. Her hair barely reached the slim shoulders, dark as the rest, with a hint of red on her hair tips. Out of sympathy, she uttered a few welcoming words, with the smile she always had.

"Thank you for the kind words, I really don't deserve them. You are nothing like what I expected.", the phone girl added, with a smile seemingly out of nowhere. "Um… where would I go for, well, information on this place? What would be the main building of your city?"

"The Basilicom, I guess…", Neptune answered between her lips.

"Basili… com, you said?". The goddess nodded affirmatively, seeing one of MOBILE's gloved hands lift from her phone's screen, all of the fingers decorated with an oval piece of dark red plastic. "Excuse me for one moment, Miss Neptune."

Nep stood frozen, wondering if she had heard the last two words correctly. After one order, with the weird name the girl kept repeating over and over, her phone shot out a series of beams, spreading around the two in an orderly pattern.

"…Map of Planeptune successfully modeled. Enhancing display detail…"

She could barely believe her eyes. With one gesture, MOBILE laid the gigantic 3D map on the ground, walking around it as she examined the piece. The entire city's structure fit inside two square meters of space, from the lake-decorated outskirts to the purple infrastructure spread across Planeptune, with the infamous Basilicom sticking up like a sore thumb in the middle.

"…You sure are full of surprises!", the goddess replied, still amazed at the detail in every spot.

"Ah, thank you for the compliment, but this was not me. It's my phone."

"Your phone? The ones we have can't do any of that…"

"…Really?", the black-haired girl asked, as if she couldn't believe the statement. "That is a true shame… smartphones are the best thing mankind has ever invented."

"Well, I don't know about that… whoever created the first pudding was sitting in a gold mine of sweet, juicy tasting~"

"Yes, games are essential to anyone's well-being!". When the topic arose, her red eyes quickly gained a new glee, about to shoot out a series of excited lines. The moment the first sound came out, her belly rumbled in hunger, loud enough to silence the girl, red hot in embarrassment.

"Aaaaaah, CRISTA, why does it always do this?!"

"…You're asking me? You are just a hungry teen…"

"Don't say that!", she shouted even louder, shaking her arms in frustration, "People might hear you and get the wrong idea!"

Neptune peeked closer, somewhat interested in the turn of events. "So, what was that about? Do you have some dirty secret?", she asked, with a teasing smile.

"N-No, it's nothing like that! I just like to eat, that's all."

"Is that it?"

"Well, and my body needs a lot of food, more than it should."

"I dunno, you look fine to me, at least…", the goddess replied, analyzing what she could perceive of the other girl's body, under the thick coat she wore. Kneeling, she looked at the tight leggings, adding a positive note upon seeing MOBILE's lower half. "…You look really fine down here…"

"Aah, where are you looking?"

"Sorry about that, I just wanted to check~", Neptune replied, coming back up with a quirky smile, full of confidence. "You have a really squeezable butt~"

The other girl covered her face with both hands, mumbling something out of embarrassment, inaudible sounds muffled by her tight coverage. Meanwhile, the goddess couldn't stop giggling, taking the time to invite her new friend to her Basilicom, happy to lead the way back while the two shared stories of their own. While Neptune recalled events of the past with the other goddesses, MOBILE kept showing features of her futuristic phone, and all the uses it had for her, an endless amount of surprise for the purple-haired girl.

Soon reaching the city, Nep pointed around several places, quickly letting the other know what her favourite spots were, time and time again, much to her satisfaction. "So yeah, this is my city,", the goddess concluded, with a happy smile, "it's all of this, and I love it to bits!"

"Unbelievable… No goddess is there in my world to lead a city to prosperity, so humans decided to build their infrastructure alone, just didn't turn out very well when extremely powerful enemies came to destroy them."

"Yeah… it's on me to protect my city, although sometimes it just doesn't work out…", Nep explained, tapping her chin while she looked to the side, spotting someone and immediately sending them a greeting, "Hey, Iffy, where are you going?"

The other girl, hidden under a massive, oversized blue jacket, turned to look at the voice in her hurried walk. Upon seeing the two, she let out a deathly gaze, rushing to her goddess with large, intimidating steps. "Nep, where the hell did you run off to? We need you here!"

"Well, Histy was annoying me, and she interrupted my beauty sleep…", she explained, feeling the stare burning her skin off more and more as she kept going, the goddess desperate for a copout as she pointed to the girl next to her. "Oh, and I met someone new while I was away, say hi to Mobie!"

"Um, my name is MOBILE, but you can call me Mobie if you prefer. Pleasure to meet you."

"Oh, hi, I'm IF,", the newcomer replied, distracted from her original issue, "I apologize in advance for the trouble Nep here gave you so far, Mobile."

"Ah, it's nothing, really. Also, I'm sorry, but it's not Mobile… it's MOBILE."

IF took a second to receive the message. "Huh?"

"It's just that you said it wrong."

"…What's the difference?"

Neptune immediately stepped in. "The difference is that one is Mobile, and the other is MOBILE!"

"Saying it louder doesn't make it different, Nep…"

"But it is different! Don't you remember MAGES.?"

Mobie turned her head to the goddess, interested. "Who is that, another friend of yours?"

"Yeah, she's a rad magician, or scientist, or science magician…", Neptune explained, continuing a heated conversation about the subtle differences between uppercase letters and punctuation on the pronunciation of one's name, much to IF's disapproval.

"Wait, that wasn't what I was going to talk about!", the blue-coated girl shouted all of a sudden, interrupting the conversation between the other two, "Nep, let's get back to the Basilicom right now, before Histoire blows a fuse!"

"Okay, okay, alright…", the goddess muttered between her lips, walking along with IF, the third girl following them to her originally intended destination, always in awe at the infrastructure of the developed city. With her focus shifted to the surrounding, she only noticed the mighty Basilicom when she was already inside the building, the wonderful view covered by the structure's walls.

"Miss Histoire, I found Nep!", IF shouted while looking at her phone, having finished several calls just in the time it took the group to reach the place.

Soon after, a small entity flew in from one of the doors in the back, riding a book bigger than herself, answering in her sharp tone, "Excellent news, IF, I'm glad I could count on you."

MOBILE observed the new arrival, curious as to the origin of the female. Quickly consulting her phone while the others were distracted, she failed to find signs of Share Energy in her, although her AI system notified her that the book girl's power level was dangerously unknown. Looking back to Histoire, she saw her in a perfectly tranquil state, but with every gesture and speech, her body seemed to inch a bit too much, as if she was bottling up something big instead of her.

"Um, I was wondering…", she spoke, turning her focus to Mobie, "…who is this with you? Is she a new friend of yours?"

"Oh, excuse me for not introducing myself sooner, I simply didn't want to interrupt you.", she immediately answered in her calmest tone, stepping forward to face the small girl, "My name is MOBILE, and I found myself near Neptune when I arrived at this world…"

Expecting weird stares from the two girls that hadn't heard her story, all she received were understanding looks. "Oh, so you came from a different dimension? Interesting."

"Yes, this is the first time I'm here… I'd be happy to tell you more later, if you want to know any more information."

"I'd be happy to hear it.", Histoire answered, surprising Mobie with the sudden request, "However, I must confirm Neptune's knowledge of her… _duties._ ". The last word, sounding out in a sour note, sent a shiver down the goddess's spine, her arms shaking as she followed her instructor to another room, Mobie being left with IF next to her, with her eyes already on her phone.

Full of curiosity, she peeked over towards the bright screen. "You have a nice-looking phone, IF."

Upon hearing the compliment, she took her eyes off the phone, thanking the other. "I waited for several hours to get this one when the stores opened. I have several phones, but this one is my main one.", she pointed out, displaying the cellphone strap on her coat, and the number of devices on it.

"Several phones? Why would you need more than one?", she questioned IF, staring at her other devices, soon switching focus to the main one, "And, what is that around your phone… some sort of case?"

"Yeah, phones need a protective case, just in case they fall to the ground, so they don't break."

Mobie lowered her eyebrows, doubtful of the statement. "…Break? Phones break?"

"Well, not always, but sometimes-", Iffy explained, only to see the dark-haired girl pull out her phone and drop it, her eyes widening in slow-motion at the sight of the phone's descent, crashing against the ground with the screen turned upwards. "W-Why did you do that?"

"I just wanted to prove it.", she answered with a smile.

"Well, okay then… it's worse when it falls on the screen, they shatter ver-"

In the same instant, she lifted her right boot and crashed it on the phone's screen, slamming the rectangular heel right in the middle. The crunching pressure, completely disproportional to the weight she could put on her stomp, cracked the floor under the phone. "…Oh no, I did it too strongly."

Looking back to IF, she found her eyes wide as they could be, clenching onto her own phone like her life depended on it.

"…I would prefer that you don't do that to the phone, Mobie…"

Iffy stepped back, looking around. "W-Who said that?", she asked, her voice a bit shaky.

"Oh, don't worry about that.", MOBILE answered, lifting her boot up and grabbing the phone, all with a concerned look on her face, "That was just CRISTA."

"B-But… the floor!", the surprised girl answered, dismissive of the strange voice after the stomp as she pointed to the cracked floor amidst her speech, "You left cracks over there!"

"Y-Yes, I'm sorry…"

Around the entrance, the guards stationed at the Basilicom kept pointing towards the two, chatting amongst themselves without stepping in. Abusing the strange occurrence, they kept talking to one another until one of them caught the Planeptune goddess and her Oracle in his eye, alerting all of the others. When the two approached IF and Mobie, the entire force was lined up, just like before.

"IF, our goddess is eager to work!", Histoire shouted in the most cheerful tone pointing to the obviously defeated girl.

"Yeah, I can see that…", her partnered answered as she led the goddess outside, leaving the Oracle with the newcomer, who kept fidgeting, hesitant to speak up, waiting for Histoire to switch her focus off the two girls.

Looking at the two small eyes, she found a look of compassion falling on her. The smaller girl pointed out the cracked floor, much to the taller one's embarrassment, reassuring her that it was fine, but nonetheless asking her the reason for the occurrence.

"Was that really what happened?", she asked again, examining the other girl once more, "You don't appear to have the strength to do it at first, but I have seen so many things…"

"You shouldn't judge a book by its' cover. I'd wager that you are much stronger than you appear to be, as well, considering you seem to guide the goddess."

"That is a very, very long history, spanning more than a thousand years…"

"You have been putting up with her for that long? Impressive!", the black-haired girl added, telling Histoire how she found the goddess, and the strange demeanor she had at the time, being assured by the Oracle that she was that way all the time. Between the two polite and educated females, the stories about Neptune's attitude pulled laughter out of the pair.

"Haaah… it's nice to see a lazy goddess, for once…", Mobie pointed out, satisfied as can be, "However, miss Histoire, I have something I'd like to tell you, something important."

"Yes, I wanted to ask you about it."

The newcomer's eyes widened. The stare Histoire gave her, in that moment, was almost one of an overpowering deity, the piercing gaze of the gods. Once eager to speak, her mouth refused to open, afraid the small female read her mind in some way.

"You attacked Neptune when you met her, did you not?"

Her pupils shrunk into tiny circles.

"Why is your hatred of goddesses so big?"

Mere moments after, one of MOBILE's hands rose towards the Oracle. With a slight push, she moved the smaller girl away, shocked at the sudden gesture, silent and watching.

"…That is exactly what I wanted to point out. There is a vile, brutal and terrifying goddess that must have teleported to this realm alongside me, as we clashed one last time."

The open hand, pointed towards Histoire, clenched into a tight fist.

"And she is going to destroy _everything_."


	3. Chapter 2 - Intrigue

"Uhm, mmmmhmmm, uwaaaah~".

In a small room, lit by a single window, a young girl laid. Just as she did before falling asleep, she clenched onto the sheets and the pillow, having missed the comfort for far too long. In an attempt to move around the bed, he found herself neatly tucked in, trapped in that sweet roll of warmth, wondering if she had done it to herself while awake.

With her eyes still closed, she pictured the night before. While the other girls she got to talk with were gone, she sent Histoire into a frenetic mix of emotions, mostly hidden by her self-control. The new arrival she announced was something the Oracle already feared, much to Mobie's surprise, and they stuck together even longer upon the realization that they had something to focus on.

As confirmed by the smaller girl, Planeptune was no stranger to invasions from other dimensions, and the rulers of the city would gladly work with anyone who wanted to help them, if it improved their chances. Feeling welcomed, she was swarmed by the guilt of bringing a threat to such a place, apologizing a thousand times for it.

Soon after that, she found herself in that room. Even if alone, her happiness grew leaps and bounds after the peaceful night of sleep. Nothing was better than waking up to peace and tranquility, she said to herself. With her trusty phone in her hand, she could continue relaxing without an issue. It couldn't get better than that.

Quiet steps came to be all of a sudden, knocks on the room's door coming right after. "Excuse me, are you there, MOBILE?", a familiar voice sounded from outside.

Startled, the girl inside took a few seconds to think about what to do. "Y-Yes, you can come in!", she ended up answering, in fear of scaring one of her new friends away. As instructed, another girl walked inside the room, shutting the door behind her. Adorned in her usual oversized coat, IF faced the bed and the girl on it, awake and ready.

"Good morning.", Iffy let out, with a warm smile, "Slept well?"

"Oh, very much so… this bed is so comfortable, it…", she answered, the speech stopped by her volatile mind.

"Do you usually get up early? Histoire told me you said you wouldn't sleep much, but I was still hesitant to come call you."

"Not at all. Unfortunately, I don't really get the chance…", the phone girl replied, still in a hesitant tone. After the second answer, her head was sunk deeper in the pillow, a mix of emotions shaking her insides.

"Ah, I see… well, you don't have to get up yet if you don't want to. Histoire let me know what tasks I need to do, and she also suggested I came to inform you of them, in case you wanted to come along."

Her insides shook. Something was boiling inside of her, something she was unable to understand, but that overshadowed all else. "I s-see… you don't have to drag me along if you don't want to…"

"It's not like that. Even if it was her that suggested it, it'd be nice to spend some time with you, if you're willing."

The sheets flew off right away. On her knees, on top of the mattress, facing the blue-coated girl, she wore a set of tight, cotton wear, covered from top to bottom in fur, all in black. Soon after, Mobie shouted with a determined tone, "I-I'd be very happy to oblige to that request!". With the sudden outburst, Iffy took a step back in shock, the other girl left in hesitation. "W-Wait, don't leave!"

IF stood still, relaxed as ever, but with a million questions swarming her mind. Perhaps she isn't fully awake yet, she thought, and this is her way of acting in the morning. Looking towards the door, she remembered the goddess she served, such a typical example of that. At that time of the morning, it was to be expected that some people were still half-asleep.

She looked back to the newcomer. Instead of calm and collected, she found the girl looking down, clenching onto her soft pants with both hands, sniffing repeatedly, on the verge of tears. "MOBILE!", she shouted, approaching the girl, bending down to look at her face.

"I-I'm sorry…", the stressed girl mumbled, head rising to look at her friend, standing there with a worried look on her face, "I-I have a s-strange request to make…"

"What is it?"

"I… need a hug."

Iffy took a deep breath. She couldn't tell what was wrong with the girl, but at that moment, she shared Histoire's feelings. After MOBILE had left for her room the night before, the Oracle seeked out her most trustworthy friend, and confided in her what she thought of the situation.

Throughout the whole conversation, she appeared to be concerned. As the captain in that sort of situation, it was on her to decide the best course of action, although she knew IF would lend her an ear if she needed it. Between the lazy goddess, her strangely devoted sister and the oblivious nurse, she only had one person to trust with serious topics in the Basilicom.

"IF, that girl isn't normal.", she whispered, as if that was something new to the group, "Something terrible might have happened to her, back where she comes from, and it gave her that… strong opinion towards goddesses.

"Did she tell you something bad?"

"She mentioned she clashed against a goddess, and that both of them are in this dimension, or so she believes… it's a strong possibility."

"Do you think Planeptune is in danger?"

"Perhaps, who knows… you saw the moment when she stepped on her phone earlier today, so you might be more informed than I am."

"She seems the type that has a lot of power, but can't control it at all."

"Indeed. If she's put in a desperate situation, she probably will let out an incredible amount of strength… perhaps that is why she made it here in one piece, which says a lot about that goddess's power."

The more IF looked at the girl in front of her, the stronger her empathy grew. Still on her knees, she didn't move an inch, so the brown-haired girl sat next to her. With a gentle touch, she pulled Mobie out of her shell, earning a gentle embrace soon after.

"Also, there's something else that I found strange about her.", she remembered Histoire say, "I felt an unnatural heat coming from her."

When Iffy received her surprisingly busty chest, she too felt the strange warmth, unlike the body temperature any regular human would have. The equally warm face dug itself into her left shoulder, silent and still.

"Um, MOBILE…", the green-eyed female let out, getting her friend to move away a bit to look at her face, "Do you have a fever?"

"No, I don't believe so. I feel normal."

"You're really hot, though. That's not normal at all."

"Oh, about that… I guess that's just how I am, there's no problem with it."

IF gave her an understanding nod. After another while, she stood up, straightening her coat with a warm smile on her face. Upon seeing her new friend with her usual calm demeanor, she specified what she came to wake her up for, explaining her role at Planeptune's Guild, and what she had been doing for the longest time. If she wanted to come along, she was free to do so.

"I will, then.", MOBILE replied, straight and sure of her answer, "…Thank you, IF."

"You can call me Iffy, by the way.", the other girl added, already opening the door, with a bright smile.

Seeing that happy grin, the phone girl drew one of her own. "Thanks, Iffy!"

The morning sun shined brightly, lighting up the whole city from early hours. Like a sunflower, the blue-coated girl walked towards the entrance of the Basilicom to catch some sunlight, the black wear under her large coat heating her skin up like a small oven. The summer heat came to stay, she told herself, several people approaching her in the corner of her eye.

Histoire, on the left, immediately greeted the girl with a kind smile. Held by her left hand was the goddess, a half-asleep purple-haired girl who, according to her sister standing right next to her, was dragged out of bed by force, in a very literal manner. Along the walls, several guards in purple attire stood, none of them missing a polite greeting for the goddess that kept ignoring them. Instead, the girls that accompanied her answered the guards: along with Neptune's sister, a bustier female clad in a woolen outfit, with a nurse's hat, walked alongside Neptune.

IF took a deep breath, wishing her goddess would grow responsibility of her own at long last. Even if she didn't understand the reason for the CPU Shift Period to occur, it appeared to threaten her own role due to her laziness. Even worse, nobody else gathered as much attention as she did, so Neptune stood there, sure that nobody would be able to replace such a popular icon. Unfortunately, such a person would only be known when they came to steal the spot, and the goddess herself was the only one who couldn't realize it. Her own sister refused to lead the kingdom on her, which only added to her confidence.

Despite the online hatred towards the goddesses, the city appeared calm and tranquil as ever, even with her presence right outside the main building. Every citizen that passed by gave her a greeting, receiving a smile in return, half-forced by Planeptune's Oracle, the little girl on top of a book giving her constant orders. Watching the scene, Iffy wondered if their new friend wouldn't start hating the goddess because of how lazy she was. To her, kindness seemed to matter most of all.

Suddenly, a bright glare hit her vision. At cost, she looked towards the bright light to find the one she was thinking about, again covered in black clothing, the upper coat so reflective it threatened to blind her.

MOBILE quickly noticed the other girl's difficulties, covering the reflecting spot with her hands right away, waiting. Soon after, she saw Iffy's pretty green eyes looking at her with ease, catching her red blush.

Excusing herself, the blue-coated girl left the group to meet Mobie. "Hey again. Feeling well?", she asked.

"Yes, I believe so, thank you for asking.", the other girl replied, with a sincere smile, "Still, I ask you not to tell anyone about what happened before…"

"Don't worry about that, Mobie. That stays between the two of us; nobody else needs to know."

She kept her eyes on IF at all times. Every time she saw that girl's smile, her insides shook ever so slightly, a different kind of joy she wasn't used to. Her large, elegant coat caught on the stronger breeze and swung from side to side, slowly and with a graceful touch, followed by her long, brown hair, partly trapped by a cute, leafy bow on her left side, all dancing to the wind in perfect unisson. Behind her figure, she saw the large road that led to the Basilicom, along with the rows of tall buildings that covered the sides, all of it minuscule before her presence.

On her end, she felt MOBILE's powerful gaze. Was she turning into a role model of some sort? The look in those black eyes spoke to her with the words her mouth couldn't put forth. Something meaningful will spark with her around us, she thought to herself, unable to shake the impression off. The chat she had with Histoire only gave her more certainty of it.

"Well then, I have to tell Neptune and the others I'm heading out. Want to meet some new faces?"

Next to IF, she faced the group, polite as she was already known to be. The moment she appeared, everyone associated her with the girl Neptune had met the day before, a series of empathetic smiles and apologies ensuing. The nurse, named Compa, handed her a small, hand-sized package, telling her it was meant for the goddess, if she had gotten ready in time that morning.

"NOOOOOOOOO, my pudding!", she bawled out, reaching for the object like it was her life. Before she could rethink her actions, Neptune's head swung away from Mobie, her ear pulled and twisted by Histoire's firm hand, a fast swing of IF's foot throwing the goddess off her feet.

"Nep-Nep, don't be that way towards your new friend!", Compa added, giving the goddess her meanest face, a cute frown beneath her deep stare.

The leafy girl pointed towards the distance, assumedly in a hurry; with hurried farewells, her partner followed along, phone in one hand and pudding in the other.

"L-Let me go, Histy!".

"Listen to me, Neptune, and listen to me well.", her Oracle reinforced, with her hands already free, sitting on her lap, "I'm going to say this once, and no more than that."

"If you want to speak, you don't need to grab me… Treating the protagonist this way isn't cool at all!"

"…Are you done?"

Every other spine in the group chilled to absolute zero upon hearing that tone. Not even the clueless goddess missed the intent, unwilling to continue with the conversation.

"Be quiet and listen, this is my ultimatum. If you fail to stick to a proper work schedule, as you have been all this time, and if you fail to follow even the simplest guidelines I give you, you will not be seeing those two again."

"…T-Those two?", the goddess asked, breaking the silence.

"Yes, those two. The other me and I still control the portal to their dimension, and can shut it at any time if needed."

"No, Histy, you don't mean… what I think you mean, right?"

"Anyone can tell what I mean.", Histoire added, stiff as she could be. In her cute, girlish tone, the seriousness that oozed out of her every syllable appeared so eerie that every body around moved back, bit by bit, pushed away by her will. "I've had enough of this, I've had enough of you."

"Histy, I know how you feel, but I don't really care about acting all goddess-like, like Vert and stuff!"

"What if I don't care about helping you lead Planeptune?"

The goddess mumbled some words to herself, out of breath under the lethal gaze forced upon her. She glanced towards the girls surrounding herself, and not one work came her way.

"Y-You wouldn't do that… I thought we had a deal!"

"Do not test my patience, Neptune! Can you even understand the importance of your role at this moment in time?"

Instead of continuing past the question, the Oracle silenced herself. Nep waited for her to continue, but nobody broke the silence. As expected, she had no real answer for the question, despite her status.

"Our "deal", as you call it, will be set as follows: you can come to me for assistance after you've proven you can perform your duties as a goddess. More than anything, that is where you fall short in comparison to the other goddesses. Everyone, you are ready to continue with Neptune's work according to our plans, correct?"

All of the other heads nodded in affirmation, determined. "It's a shame Iffy isn't here to help us out…", the nurse added, looking towards the road in her sight, unable to find her friend.

"Not a problem, she's working with the Guild to benefit the city, and I won't take her away from her job unless it's truly needed. Besides, with her trustworthy hand, we might get MOBILE to assist us as well…"

Soon after the argument, she regained her normal composure. Kindly, the other girls brought Neptune back inside, while the Oracle waited outside, watching the movement around the Basilicom. The morning Autumn sun, gentle to her bright skin, lighted the whole city, much less futuristic in appearance without all the artificial lights.

Deep inside, her heart was filled with doubt. She looked back to the Basilicom, forgetting IF was already away. An ageless, timeless Oracle had an infinite amount of troubles piled on herself, and little time to sort herself out with the lack of leeway the city gave her. In the end, she was doing a goddess's work, along with her own, and she had gotten so used to the workload that she wondered if she was right to complain about Neptune's lack of effort and discipline.

She waited in place for another half an hour. Her book's page kept lifting under her rear, stubborn as a goddess, and her crystal wings fluttered every once in a while, to keep herself in place. For the first time, she was going to meet someone that understood her worries better than anyone else. Her worries were getting too big to deny the new help she had acquired.

Close to her, a smaller figure approached, greeting Histoire with a polite, even cuter voice.

"Oh, I'm glad you came!"

Next to her, another Histoire floated, equal in everything but size and pitch.

"Shall we come in? I like going to the upper floor and stare at the horizon, when I'm deep in thought."

The two floated towards the building, moving up the floors. As Histoire guided Neptune in looking over the city, so did the other Histy, originating in another dimension that Nep had been teleported to before. Instead of her, another female named Plutia ruled over, as lazily as the self-proclaimed protagonist. True to their appearance, the two were very similar, despite their different origins.

"…I think I prefer doing this during the night.", the Hyperdimension's Oracle let out.

Several stories high, the two stood on a balcony, overseeing the whole city.

"I think the scenery is beautiful during the day.", the smaller Histoire replied, deep in admiration.

"I do too, but the city lights at night are quite the sight as well… I am often caught staring at them when alone, all the way up here…"

"With your praise, I'm left wanting to come over and watch it."

"Oh, I'd be very happy to share the experience with you. I'm hoping we can do this more often."

"When I have the chance, I'll come visit you again. Now, what did you wish to speak with me today?"

The bigger Histoire took a calm, deep breath, her eyes now turned to her equal. After a heartfelt thanks for coming, she detailed Neptune's behavior after ending her adventures in the Ultradimension, many statements ringing bells in the other Histy's memories of Nep and Plutia's time spent together. She mentioned how she lost her temper earlier, much to the other's understanding, recalling what she, as Plutia's Oracle, had to do to get both purple-haired girls to do their jobs.

"Does it worry you, though?", the small Histy asked, floating nearer to the other, "Perhaps it will negatively affect Neptune?"

"No, I don't believe so. She has Nepgear and Compa with her, so I think she'll be fine. I'm more concerned with… myself."

She took a longer pause to recollect her thoughts. The other, intrigued, remained silent, firmly in front of the bigger self.

"The truth is, we have a new girl with us. Her name is MOBILE, and ever since I saw her, I figured she was a bit off, but that's normal around these parts. When I asked Neptune about her, however, she told me that their first encounter quickly led to the newcomer capturing our goddess in some sort of electric field."

"Capturing? She managed to do it?"

"Yes, and only with a phone in her hand. Not only that, but she knew Neptune was a goddess… and, from what I heard afterwards, I'm sure she was attacked specifically because of that."

The conversation continued, the bigger Histy unwilling to stop after she had started. With her calm pace, she detailed the conversation she had with the phone girl, in hopes of portraying her new doubts in a way her partner could understand. The moment she accepted Neptune's duties, she lost the option to doubt herself, much to her displeasure. In a last-ditch effort to remain true to her beliefs, she refused to battle with her true strength unless the four goddesses agreed that it was necessary. Without that, she was left with managing the city for more than a millennium, rarely ever losing her confidence in the matter.

"It's not like me, do you understand? I feel as if I see something that is invisible to everyone else… perhaps it was something she told me last night, something that struck me as odd, but I cannot pinpoint what it is!"

"Her threat appears to be serious, at least. I assume that was not it, but I can see why you'd be worried after she delivered that line."

"In a way, yes, but it's more than that. I could spend the rest of my days thinking about it, and I would still be unable to figure it out on my own."

"…Which is why you called me."

The Hyperdimension Oracle sighed, deep in her worries. The other floated closer, in an attempt to comfort her, hesitant to approach someone so similar to her.

"This feels so natural, even if it's with myself…"

The tiny book laid on top of the bigger one. The big Histoire, holding the other next to her, hovered closer to the fence, watching Planeptune in its daylight action. For the first time ever, they watched the city together, paired like a couple, or a mother-daughter pair.

"Have I ever told you how envious I am of your capabilities, in comparison to mine?"

The other giggled, wondering how to take the compliment. "Your dimension is several years behind mine, so that is to be expected… Still, you must not let such feelings guide you, especially with all the work you put down yourself.", she let out, holding onto her smaller version's hand.

"Neptune kept making fun of my size… And my voice…"

"Deep down, I know she appreciated you for being yourself, and the same applies to Plutia. It's just not in them to show that kind of appreciation in a normal basis, not with their… personalities…"

The small Histy let out a smile, gradually turning into a giggle. As two different beings, the one thing that guided them were the two Planeptune goddesses, stressful and annoying as a pair of girls could be, and yet with a certain charm to them that attracted others, like a friendship magnet that defied all expectations.

"In the end, I had to get used to her. The new girls, like MOBILE, on the other end…"

"If you know she's on your side, you should be fine. What matters most is the state of your city, and especially of Neptune's reputation right now. I'd be happy to lend you a hand with managing resources, but I have tasks of my own with Plutia."

"…You're right, and I appreciate your concern. I will do what I need to, even if I lose every last bit of my patience."

Silence took over once more.

"Do you have some more time to share?", the bigger twin asked.

"Of course!"

Their arms locked together, the smaller head resting on the other's shoulder. Without a sound, the mini version slid over her partner's legs, and there they stood, the big Histy holding the small one in her lap.

Deeper down, a single room held the screams of a single goddess, fighting against the paperwork stacked on a large desk, set up just for her. Despite the distance, Histoire could almost pick her exasperation up, the melodramatic screams she kept hearing in the back of her head.

In that moment, however, she was in much better company.


	4. Chapter 3 - Nationality

The CPU Shift Period came as an interesting time. At first sight, it was a random uprising of CPU haters that happened for no reason whatsoever. That sentence was what Neptune kept repeating whenever someone confronted her with the topic. Someone set her up, as the famed protagonist, to be taken down her deserved spot at the top, be it in a game, a fanfic or any type of story format. That damned MOBILE must be involved in it, too.

However, Planeptune and Gamindustri were two very different things. That goddess's country was located to the south of that world, but three other countries established themselves there, all in a competition for dominance over gaming technology. As with the Neptune and Nepgear pair, so did the other countries have their deific representatives, fighting hard to maintain their place under the pressure of those that want the goddess shift.

To the east, as a true industrialized city, stood Lastation. With its proud history of technological innovation, it constantly brought new possibilities to reality, often the pioneer in the developments the four countries constantly chased. From one end to the other, the city was meticulously structured, from buildings to organizations and people themselves, all to improve efficiency in the citizens' work. Atop the miracle stood one black-haired goddess, proud as the city she governed, with a younger sister whose sole role model was that same goddess that maintained Lastation prosperous.

True to her colour scheme, her name was Noire. As a dutiful representant of the city, she spent most of her time filing paperwork and aiding citizens, taking down enemies and managing resources within the environment. No matter how much pressure was piled on her, she pulled through. Once again, she sat at her work desk, with a laptop to the left, and several sheets of paper to the right.

She drew large rectangles on one side of the sheet, and then added tiny details throughout the empty space inside. After some time, it looked like a blueprint for a factory, designs for reactors being drawn on the side while she worked the math on her PC. With two sheets side to side, she compared her blueprints, adjusting them more and more, without a single break.

"Lady Noire!", a male voice sounded from outside her room, the goddess allowing the armored man inside, "I have a report from the abandoned nuclear factory in the northeastern sector."

"How's the situation, soldier?", she replied in a girly, yet mighty tone.

"The building has been successfully cleared of monsters, and no accidents occurred inside; it was a complete success!"

"Good job, although I wouldn't expect any less from our armed forces. Thank you for bringing this information to me."

"It's a pleasure to serve you, Lady Noire!", the man replied, saluting the goddess, "If I may ask, how is your situation with the CPU Shift Period progressing?"

"It's under control. I'm focused on more important things as of now, I left Uni handling a few tasks related to that.", Noire answered. Right after, she came to reality and stood up, telling the guard that she was going to check up on her sister.

"Lady Uni is not in her room, Lady Noire. I was patrolling the area, and her room's lights were turned off."

"What? But, if she wasn't there…", the goddess let out as she returned to her laptop, checking once more to see the message her sister had left her, "Oh, she did finish what I told her to do… if she had told me, I'd have given her more…"

"Give me just a moment, Lady Noire.", the guard added, pulling a phone out of his pants' pocket, mumbling the directions in his mind to himself, "Ah, yes, as I had expected. Lady Uni went inside the shooting range 7 minutes ago. Shall I make the call?"

"There's no need, I'll go see her personally. Keep a lookout on these corridors, will you?"

"At your orders, Lady Noire!"

The formalities were imposed by Noire herself. When addressing her, as a sign of respect and admiration, Lastation's citizens should call her a Lady, with either her name or the name of her HDD form, although the first was usually reserved to those that spent more time with her. Only her friends would address her as simply Noire.

She gave the trip a second thought, about to initiate her transformation sequence into a flying CPU when she realized the walking would ease her mind. On the streets, she was undisturbed by most teens, adults and elders, only the kids coming to bother her with gifts and greetings on a frequent basis. At the time, however, she made the walk without a single encounter, too focused on her sister to notice the situation.

Farther away, gunfire filled an open space, several kilometres wide. At least a dozen soldiers were stationed there at any time, putting their daily practice into play into one of the hundred shooting ranges spread across the nation. Near the most dangerous factories, no housing was allowed, and as such those practice spots were raised to take advantage of the empty space formed around such buildings.

Lastation's CPU Candidate used the facility as any other guard did, despite being the goddess's sister. Even without using her Share energy, she was more skilled with guns than the vast majority of the nation's armed forces, as lethal with a 9mm as she was with a pump-action shotgun. In her hands, she held a semi-automatic sniper rifle with ultra-light bullets, which flew farther than any other. With her red eyes glued to the lens of the weapon, she fired at targets invisible to the naked eye.

She felt a presence on her side.

"Nepgear, you came!"

Another of Gamindustri's countries was named Lowee. Farther towards the north, it couldn't escape the colder weather in that zone, and was typically known as the city of snow. Unlike the other cities, most of the architecture in the country was old-fashioned, a message of tradition that Lowee citizens wanted to convey to both younger generations and tourists visiting those parts. To them, it was like traveling to a fairy tale in plain reality, a fact the country's goddess was proud to work for.

Throughout the history of the CPUs, it has always been the case that their HDD transformation would cause their body to mature, more or less considerably. Most of them, Neptune included, would only look like a goddess after leaving their human form, but there was a clear exception to the rules, one that lived in the middle of snow, deep inside a medieval castle of mighty proportions. In a way, it appeared that she was trying to compensate for something.

"Disgusting…", she mumbled to herself, alone in her room with a laptop and a repulsed look in her face, "People have different tastes, but I don't want these fucking images stuck in my mind!"

In the Ultradimension, Plutia's dimension, she was the oldest CPU. In her own, despite the fact all goddesses being the same age, she was the most mature one, while looking no older than the average high-school girl, and a particularly flat one at that. Her name is Blanc, White Heart when transformed, and she led the country with tenacity not seen anywhere else.

"Big sis, we're back!"

A girlish voice sounded off from outside. Resignated, she stood up from her chair and walked towards the door, drawing her most sincere smile to welcome the twins standing just outside, each with a notebook and a pen in their possession. In all, they were equal, except for the color of their outfits, the length of their hair and the expressions on their faces. The long, thick winter coats that stretched down their legs and the muffin-top hats covering their heads were the same, perfect copies in everything but coloration.

Blanc wondered what the two had been doing outside. "We went to get Shares, it was super fun!", the girl in pink shouted, her long hair waving around with her excited movements.

"Mmhmm, super fun…", the other whispered, her happiness amounting to a timid bounce in the same spot, even cuter than the other sister in her baby blue clothes.

"…Get Shares?", the oldest sister asked, wondering if the two really knew what the expression meant.

"We went to a meeting with Financier, and everyone loved us!", the excited one explained, waving her notebook around.

"Ram, what did you pull this time?"

"I mean it! Look at the happy messages people left us!", she added, both twins opening their notebooks to reveal tons of notes, written in different colors and calligraphies. From one end to the other, and with every page she turned, she only found messages of support and encouragement for the three.

Blanc smiled again, her chest filling with the positivity the citizens left her. After another all-nighter fighting against repression attempts, the twins' effort cheered her up a little bit.

"Oh, and we also drew your angry face for everyone to see!"

She flipped another page to find her drawn face covering the whole page, with arrows and notes all around it, poking fun at the scenario. Her fists clenched, shaking ever so slightly in frustration. She looked up, at the twins eyes, one of hers crimson-red.

"YOU LITTLE FUCKS!"

The twins immediately ran away, full of laughs and giggles, chased by an angry Blanc that screamed for them to come back to her. Suddenly, a fourth person joined the chase, running behind the goddess.

"Oh, Financier, I didn't see you there.", Blanc let out, turning around to face the other female, dressed like a maid.

"Miss Blanc, you don't have to-", Financier let out in a loud tone before stopping in place, taken back by the goddess's calm expression. "Well, what they said was true. I was the one who told them to come. There was in an important game release today and I thought it was a good idea to see what people's opinion was of the goddesses, in person…"

"You can't do that on your own, it's dangerous!", Blanc shouted back, glancing towards the twins to find them on the other end of the corridor listening. Shooing them away, she continued, "Somebody could have planned an attack on them or something!"

"But I was there with them the whole time, and so were several guards patrolling the event, as usual!"

"That's not enough! That's not…", the shorter deity replied, lowering her tone, "Listen, I trust my guards, but at a time like this, people can pull something… something I can't blame the guards for not stopping."

"From Lowee's citizens? The faith in the goddesses is still high, despite the period… I saw it in person at that event."

"That doesn't mean anything.", Blanc concluded, her maid left with eyes wide open, "In an event meant to celebrate a Lowee release, and especially in a section to address the goddesses, nobody with hate for them would show themselves out in the open. The CPU Shift Period isn't a sudden, widespread change of opinion towards rulers, it's a series of attempts to undermine the goddesses by exploiting any weaknesses we have that make us look bad to the public when revealed."

"…What does that mean, then?"

Blanc sighed, "What it means is that public opinion will remain about the same until some ludicrous revelation comes into place. The only difference is that there are people behind the scenes trying to take us down, somewhere. The CPU Shift Period doesn't bring about negativity towards us; no, the period itself is born when we're being pressed in this manner."

"I see… when I was at the event, some people asked me why this CPU Shift Period was bringing about so much negativity towards you, Miss Blanc, and the CPU Candidates. I tried to explain that the negativity gives birth to the period, and not the other way around."

"Precisely. As long as I keep working against those intruders, I will show Lowee why I'm the right person for the job. Just like those guys that are spreading pictures of Rom and Ram around… I'll do everything in my power to make sure they disappear without a single trace.", the goddess ended, her face once again shifting to her scary seriousness.

"Yes, I believe you can- "

Financier's voice quieted down to silence. She heard a phone ringing, and saw Blanc slowly reach towards her coat to take it out.

"Listen, Financier. You're with me, aren't you?"

The goddess grew a wide, confident smile, the determination burning in her ice-colored eyes. Her large coat appeared to float in the air, rising with a mysterious force, the sheer force of will of Lowee's goddess.

"Share Crystal… TRANSFORM!"

"Wait, Miss Blanc, you can't transform inside!"

A bright light swallowed the whole corridor. Blanc's pale skin was overtaken by pure white, her clothes losing shape as the body switched to her HDD form. Her short, brown hair lost its colour and rose slightly into sharp spikes of white, snow-colored hair. Down her torso, the skin tight suit encompassing her transformation was generated, not unlike a virtual model in a simulation. The entire suit was white, with some drops of light blue and black decorating it, her legs left uncovered and her feet stuck under a big pair of shoes with a strange, arced piece floating in front of them.

"M-Miss Blanc…"

"You feel it, don't you, Financier?", White Heart let out, every word burning with confidence, "The desire to fight…". She had rarely ever seen her goddess transformed in person, and never with that mood. Her hands, covered with a pair of thick, plated gloves, held a massive axe, almost her size, plated in an unknown white alloy.

Financier's arms trembled, her legs threatening to give off. The goddess's presence was almost unbearable, and her intensity burned like the hottest flames of hell. Her red eyes pierced deep into the maid's soul, pressure on her frail body leaving her down on her rear, looking up to her ruler.

"You understand now. For Lowee, it is I who will fight, who will win this war.", Blanc added, axe in her right hand and eyes turned to the left, looking at her partner, while she cracked her neck. "Nobody can take me down, and if they try, THEY WILL SUFFER MY WRATH!"

She swung her axe horizontally and took off right away. From her spot, Financier could only hear the noise she made darting around the air on her way out of the castle. In less than a minute, she was already flying towards the sky. With her wonderland overtaken, the white goddess bolted outside the territory, eyes glued to a phone she carried on her free hand, free from the massive axe.

"Hey, Vert, you there? I'm already past the city walls."

"Yes, I'm following you.", an elegant female voice sounded off from the other side. Many miles away, almost on the other end of Gamindustri, someone else kept in contact with White Heart as she flew out of her city. Further south, in an entirely different climate, stood the last of the four countries, Leanbox, the land of Green Pastures. From one end to the other, everyone could appreciate green, lush plains accompanied by a mild, temperate weather that was pleasing to the eyes and skin.

In the middle, the main city stood. With a refined, yet updated architecture, the infrastructure spoke of those that learned to appreciate their hobbies to their fullest without sacrificing the pleasure of being well-seen by others. Across the world, Leanbox's residents were known to be talented and versatile, from the youngest to the elders, the majority of which had made revolutionary advancements in technology that other nations even took in to make their own products better.

In the center of it was the Basilicom, a true palace of beauty where the staff worked on their own, no supervision required on their path to glory. Deep inside, amongst the several rooms, the same female voice was heard, coming from a lonely woman in front of a computer, drinking tea while she observed the screens. Between a tracker, official reports from the country and chat rooms across the webs, she followed a specific topic while talking with Lowee's CPU, focused as can be on the situation.

"I sent you the coordinates of your destination, Blanc. According to my sources, they should be right, but the only way to know that for certain is for you to arrive at that place."

"Okay, sounds good to me. What the hell am I going to meet there, anyways?"

"Well, these Bio-Dogoos, as we've learnt to call them around here, started multiplying in Leanbox, far away from the city, and eventually tried to get inside. However, our fine guard never allowed such vile creatures to do as they pleased, so they decided it was fine to direct their course to other places… namely the other cities."

"The other cities? They just swam their way to Planeptune and Lastation?"

"Yes, indeed… Those dogoos are unbelievably resistant, and they possess an extraordinary ability: when one of them dies, another can gobble them up and grow in power and size, and, when big enough, they can split into equal dogoos. In the end, they basically ressurect…"

"So it's a swarm of dogoos. What's the big deal about that?"

"They have taken people already…", the Leanbox goddess replied, tilting her eyes to the official reports screen, "I couldn't allow such a thing to continue. I made an agreement with Noire and Histoire to set up defenses between my country and theirs, and we've successfully erradicated the infestation that spread between them. At that point, we thought it was all…"

"And they managed to sneak past all of you and head towards Lowee, is that what you're telling me? A bunch of neon-green dogoos slipped through three different armed forces and headed directly to a city they can't even see?", White Heart asked in her most sarcastic tone, looking at a picture of the creatures on her phone.

"…I can't explain any of it, we're still doing research.", the voice on the other side answered, the blonde female jumping a bit after a while, "Oh! You're getting close to those coordinates."

"Yeah, I see them… wow, that's one huge dogoo!", she replied right away, eyes on the beast, the size of a mountain, that kept coughing out miniature versions of itself, which spread around to scout the area, "Anything else I should know before I stomp these fuckers?".

"Avoid getting swallowed by any of them at any costs! Also, you can only exterminate them if you keep all dogoos away from a dead one until it despawns."

"Sounds like a lot of work… I'm on it, see you later."

Deeper down, an army of green dogoos circled the enormous one, fixated in the horizon to find any living being. The leader stood perfectly still, barely wobbling in its' gigantic, slimy body while it spawned more of itself. Dogoo, dogoo, dogoo, it let out in a surprisingly deep voice. Dogoo, dogoo, dogoo-

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

A white axe slammed right in the tip of the big dogoo's head, sinking slightly onto the green gelatin.

"Dogoo?"

In an instant, all of them turned in the same direction. Stuck in that position, the goddess could only watch as the army climbed onto the leader and towards her. She freed her axe just in time to dodge the leaps of faith from the fastest creatures, each swing of her weapon chopping one in half.

The bodies fell at the dozens. Near the ground, several dogoos were ready to gobble them and regenerate the slain creatures, which restarted the cycle. With her fast swings, the goddess felt her agility slowly decrease over time. "What the hell is this… I can't believe it…", she whispered between heavy breaths, floating higher to avoid the creatures' jumps, "How am I supposed to take this thing down? Up here, I can do nothing about them…"

She knew it was time to change strategy. Instead of pointlessly tiring herself with countless swings, she had to make each one count. Unlike a normal fighter, she had her entire Share-based skillset she was able to unleash at will. The people's convictions were what gave the leaders the power they needed to fight the nation's hardships. Every belief that she obtained made her faster, stronger and tougher than before, and every second she spent devoted to her land returned to her hands when she needed it the most. Unyielding, she dove down and attacked the enemy at ground level.

Far away, distanced from the cliff, a large vehicle zoomed through the fields in an attempt to approach the goddess. Within safe distance, it swerved into a stop, a team of reporters booming into action right away. "This is Leanbox's prime news feed, Lean Now, and we come to you with last-minute info that you cannot miss!", the woman with mic in hand shouted towards the camera, "It appears that the already known threat of the Bio-Dogoos, thought to have been exterminated, found a new uprising in their path towards Lowee, and over there, we can see their goddess, currently transformed into White Heart, fighting against the hive! Once again, Leanbox has requested assistance from another country to deal with its own problems!"

The broadcast, although made by a company originating in Leanbox, reached all the countries. As it was airing, commentary and reactions drowned the social media, both the disappointment from most users, and the praise that Lowee citizens gave to their goddess in her trying time. Amongst the masses, IF and MOBILE caught the news, both girls locked to the big screen while they ate chocolate-coated donuts, colored purple in honor of their goddess.

"IF, please excuse me.", her new friend let out, in a surprisingly quiet tone, "I have to go."

"Hmm, did you remember something you had to-", Iffy tried to ask, as the other girl ignored her and ran away from the café.

"CRISTA, I need you with me now!", Mobie whispered to her phone, the screen unlocked to show a plentitude of data, along with her companion's tranquilizing voice.

"…I am here, I always am. Did you grow empathy all of a sudden?..."

"S-Shut up! Just follow my word and we can do this quickly."

Further down in Gamindustri, Leanbox's goddess kept herself connected to Blanc, impatient for the latest official report regarding the matter, far too delayed for her tastes. With another sip of tea, she squeezed her own enormous bust, in a failed attempt to relieve her stress. When she was about to give up, the notice popped up right in front of her eyes.

"There it is! There…", she let out, skimming through the text to find the new details she was surely missing, "…it is… T-There…"

She grabbed the phone tight, screaming for the other goddess as if her own life depended on it. With the heat of battle, her voice fell on deaf ears, much to her desperation. What do I do, what do I do, she repeated to herself, shifting from one screen to the next, from reports to video feed of the scene, courtesy of her TV station, to social media. She dove onto the keyboard to type quick replies from her official account but stopped just as she was about to send.

"What am I still doing here?"

In the battlefield, White Heart razed the horde with her expertly-managed axe. Flying just above the grass, she kept momentum while she smashed dogoos left and right. Waves of ice magic spawned from her weapon and congealed into miniature tornadoes of ice, strong enough to take down any of the creatures that tried to approach their dead companions. Slowly but surely, their numbers decreased, even with the biggest one coughing more out.

Full of the tedious battle, she dug her feet into the earth and leapt towards the big bad. Her red glare froze the enemy, as did her strong swing, the axe brought up to gain momentum for the attack.

"Getter Ravine!"

The ground under her shattered and collapsed. She fell several meters with the impact, along with the defeated creature and all those that surrounded it. The big boss, apparently sturdy, couldn't take the goddess's strength, massively increased after facing the Deity of Sin and Rei Ryghts's cloned army. The terrain itself broke down after her engage, much to her surprise.

"That's weird… the ground gave in too easily.", she wondered to herself, high above the panicked dogoos, "I don't feel my Shares being so high, so something's happening here…"

In an instant, the massive body woke up. With the same agility of its' minions, it leapt off the earth and towards the goddess. All she saw, in her confused state, was the creature's mouth opening wide to swallow her. Unable to swing her heavy weapon in time, she was defenseless against the attack, but her ears picked up a sharp noise from a different direction, supremely familiar, and yet mysterious.

The monster was skewered in place, caught in a huge lance that resembled a vine of crystal, twisted around itself. Its eyes went blank in seconds and, out of reach of any the others, the boss despawned without any retaliation, along with the spear that killed it. White Heart turned her head, already with high expectations of what she was seeing.

Further up, diagonally to the goddess and several hundred meters away, was another female, gowned in similar attire to Lowee's CPU. The skin-tight outfit, coupled with the futuristic accessories, covered a well-endowed, maturely gifted female with prominent curves all around her tall body. Her right hand, with the index finger stretched, pointed to the direction she had sent her magical lance towards, a precise hit from such an incredible distance.

The gorgeous goddess, armed with her incredible speed, approached White Heart in no time. "It looks like you were in a pinch there, Blanc.", she pointed out, with a confident smirk and her beautiful sarcastic tone.

"Vert! What are you doing here? I thought you were going to stay in your room and back me up!"

"Am I not backing you up?", she asked, wielding her long spear, "I tried to talk with you, but you were already fighting…". The other goddess tried to retort, but the green-haired newcomer raised her hand to stop her, adding the new information, "I rushed here because I found something on Leanbox's official reports regarding these Bio-Dogoos. Looking at what you did down there, you might have already figured it out."

"What is it? I use my Getter Ravine on the big one, and the whole thing came crashing down for some reason!"

"It's… well, these dogoos have a lot of secrets, and it appears they were hiding a special one. They appear to possess the ability to dig holes under the ground, and walk great distances that way-"

"WHAT?", White Heart shouted, staring at the ground with an awful feeling spread across her spine, "You mean, they're…"

"You must hurry, Blanc! There's no doubt they're marching towards Lowee!", Vert let out in an exasperated tone, with immediate gestures of another spell cast, "Assam Link!"

"Thanks, Vert."

The skill buffed both parties's agility, technique and movement, the ultimate in AoE buffing abilities from the most resourceful goddess in Gamindustri. Along with her beautiful, Venusian appearance, worthy of a true goddess in all aspects, her powers were incredible, confident beyond belief of her capabilities, and with no fear to show them. As White Heart dashed off, the busty goddess flew down and invaded the hole, readying another of her massive spears.

"Sylhet Spear!"

Where she pointed, bodies fell. Faced with a perfectly straight tunnel, she could take down enemies much faster than they could regenerate.

"Rainy Ratnapura!"

She swung her spear so quickly that it almost faded from view, stabbing enemies at lightning speed as she flew through the tunnel.

"Terai Division!"

When she moved her free hand, all the enemies around her slowed to a crawl, As she used to say, her beauty drew the enemy's gaze to lower their evasion and movement.

Further ahead, much above, White Heart found the hole where the dogoos crawled out of, just a few meters away from the city. Even at her full speed, and with Green Heart's buff, she was far behind the enemy in their progress towards the dreamland she had built. "I can't make it!", she let out to herself, her head replaying the reports of people being absorbed by the monsters, just as they ate each other.

She swung her weapon to the side, and a wall of blue light crystals formed next to her. In her desperation, she could barely aim, she only thought of swinging, regardless of who stood in the way.

"GEFAHLICHTERN!"


	5. Chapter 4 - Boldness

"GEFAHLICHTERN!"

The axe swung from one side to the other, and the magical bullets flew in a straight line, with a slight spread. With a dozen bullets confronting a hundred enemies, the attack appeared as a pitiful attempt. However, when she put eyes on the scene, the dogoos had stopped.

In fact, her bullets had stopped as well.

"…W-W-What…"

She saw two arms in the air, covered in black. A strange field surrounded the person and all the dogoos near them, with slow, periodical waves emanating out. Gaining some height, the goddess perceived the girl responsible, all clad in black from her neck to her feet. The thick, fur-covered coat she wore reminded White Heart of her own when she was in human form, surprised at the appearance of the mysterious Lowee citizen.

In that same moment, she saw the solution for her troubles. As the queen of single-target physical fighting, she had little in her arsenal to fend off hordes of enemies, especially those that couldn't be dispatched one at a time. For that, she had to rely on something other than her duels of strength, an ability not exclusive to goddesses in any way: the EXE Drive.

"This is it, a perfect circle!", she shouted while gathering energy. Each fighter that developed the skill needed to use such an ability had one that was unique to themselves. The only similarity is that they needed to be charged with normal combat, impossible to use at the start of a battle. After her first clash, she was more than ready to engage once more. She soared the skies and came back down from the other side, facing the dogoos head on.

In contrast to her petite figure, her Hard Break was a sight to behold. The first swing carried enough force to knock all the enemies back a fair bit, even through the influence of the other fighter's field. With the momentum, White Heart hammered the ground and sent a shockwave forward. When the cracks in the ground reached the group, the earth erupted into a small mountain that sent them all flying.

"HaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAH!", she shouted from the top of her lungs while she spun around herself. As the likely world champion of the hammer throw sport, she threw her heavy axe towards the airborne monsters as the last hit of her special skill. With the force, she scattered the bunch of corpses across the battlefield, victorious in the end. When she came down, White Heart found herself in the middle of the same field that stopped the creatures, and her movements slowed down and more, despite her great deal of strength.

"Don't move, goddess.", the girl behind her back said, the serious tone in a big contrast with her girlish voice. She kept the field up, with a black phone on her right hand, locked onto the CPU and her previous bullet skill, which was still stuck in her powerful ability. The transformed CPU felt some freedom to move, albeit with great effort, but that energy of hers seemed to disappear bit by bit while she remained in the zone. She felt something being sapped from her… her own energy.

"Hey, what are you doing?!", she shouted, unable to deny what she felt. With her strength reunited, she turned to address the female in her aggressive ways.

The phone-wielding girl reacted instantly, without giving it a single thought. MOBILE's slowing field disappeared, and the previously hampered magic bullets flew towards her, hitting an invisible barrier instead. The attack, reflected in a perfect angle, changed direction and struck the unguarded goddess. When she looked again, her opponent had vanished, far off in the distance in only a few seconds.

Ready to guard the dogoo tunnel, nonetheless, she only had time to dodge her lance-wielding ally as she came to wipe the rest of the invasion. "Vert! Did you take them all down?", White Heart shouted as she turned to look at the other goddess.

"Yes, they're dealt with.", the other replied. Together, they watched the black-clothed girl that had ran off at incredible speeds, in an awkward sprint. Instead of stepping like normal, her feet slid across the floor with each step, as if she was on rollerskates. "…Did something happen, Blanc?"

"Uh… no, not really. She stopped the dogoos here and I took care of them, but she ran off before I could talk with her."

"I see…"

Out of their sight, MOBILE continued at the same pace. Instead of stepping in the grass, her feet stopped on an invisible surface just above it. Without friction, she retained her speed without much effort, only fighting against the wind on her way back to Planeptune. Through it all, she spoke to her phone. "CRISTA! How's the battery?"

"…Currently at 74%. Your expense during the travel was mostly compensated by the encounter…"

"Huh, really? That turned out better than I thought.", she answered, moving even faster than before, "I can't wait to get back, and, um…"

"…So you did grow empathy, perhaps… How curious…"

"Is it illegal to have emotions? I didn't know I had to send a formal request to act upon what I feel!"

"…You make it seem that way, most of the time…"

"Shut up!"

The goddesses soon returned to their regular labor. With the Bio-Dogoo threat officially extinguished, Vert was able to rest easy with the points the accomplished scored for her Shares, and Blanc sighed in relief at the safety of her city and its' citizens. Back in Lastation, Noire claimed credit at being the one who ordered the swift report of the monsters' digging abilities to Leanbox, effectively saving lives in the battlefield. In the midst of that success, the fourth goddess was unheard of in the news, to absolutely no one's surprise.

However, her fabled console was turned off. It was cold to the touch, and so was the big screen. Deep in the confines of the Basilicom, secluded from everyone else, a single purple-haired goddess worked her hand on a stack of paperwork set aside just for her. Most citizens would nod in admiral to her hard work; some others would pinch themselves in hopes of waking up from that weird dream. She scratched her head, but kept reading, document after document. From the open door, a small girl floating on book watched after her, as proud of the goddess as she was of herself for her new accomplishment.

Eventually, the seconds turned into minutes, and the minutes into hours, much to Neptune's surprise. As the afternoon settled down, her Oracle entered the room, with a gentle knock on the door. "Neptune? You can stop now."

"Aaaaagh!", she moaned out loud, dropping her head on the desk, "Finally, this is such a bore!"

"I honestly didn't believe you'd sit here for so long, even if the sky came falling on you… you've done well."

The goddess remained silent, back on her feet and stretching her body. Instead of a funny retort, she gave Histoire no more than a tired look. After all those years, over many human lifetimes, she governed Planeptune without knowledge of how sustaining a city worked. All that she knew was to lead her citizens with her impressive strength, one that was unmatched in the country, alongside her impressive charisma, able to draw any and all allies to herself. Split between a social butterfly with unbeatable happiness and a matured goddess that stood high on all fields of deification, she was, in many ways, a true leader.

"Do you understand what it means to rule a country now?"

"A bit, although not really…"

"You couldn't learn such a thing so quickly, anyways. Nonetheless, this is the kind of work I have been doing for you while you slack away."

"I don't…"

"You don't… what?"

"I don't really get what you were telling me before."

In their conversation, Histoire had mentioned the amount of people that would do anything to have the power she has over Planeptune. As the sole ruler, with people of importance spread across the country, she would be the one to have a say in what happens all around it, if she was interested in that role. The goddesses had the power to create their own worlds, ever since the dawn of time. However, one of them wasn't much for it.

"I love my city as it is, I always did. I just don't want to tell people how to live their lives…"

"That's… a very wise statement, coming from someone like you."

"Hey!", Neptune shouted, stomping the floor, "I thought you'd see me differently after this!"

"All I ask you is that you put effort into it. You don't want to sit here all day, working on those papers, do you? There's plenty of things you can help me with, some of them bringing you close to the citizens. There's a lot of people that would love to see you in person, you know that?"

Nep was out of words to say after a while. Her desires to lazy around with her closest friends in the Basilicom always reigned supreme, but she liked the idea of sharing more time with her citizens. While she thought, Histy pointed out that all the other goddesses barely appeared before their citizens, and more often than not, they did so when transformed, as a symbol of royalty and importance to the countries. In opposition, she preferred to stay in her base form, in a more relaxed manner, because she knew the people liked and followed her, regardless of state. Indeed, the Oracle pointed out, that was something she held better than any of the others, usable to distinguish herself.

Done with her task, she quickly returned to the base floor. Upon arrival, she saw Iffy dashing her way, more worried than usual. "Histoire! Did you see the news about Lowee?", she shouted towards the Oracle as soon as she saw her next to Neptune, to which she replied with a negative answer, "Please look at this, I have it here on my phone."

In it, the screen displayed one of the entrances to the city. In the live transmission, recorded and then uploaded to social media, Blanc could be seen in her transformed state, wiping out the dogoos that attacked the city. "I did hear about this infestation from Leanbox. Did it reach all the way to Lowee?"

"Yes, but that's not the important part! Look at who's standing right there."

Neptune tried to glance over the phone to see what was going on, spotting another person in black clothes between the city and the monsters. She found the girl familiar, but she couldn't quite put the finger on it. However, she could put her eyes on her as she appeared in the distance, breathing heavily, yet calm as ever. Gently, she touched Histy's shoulder, being shoo'd off instantly. With insistence, she grabbed her attention.

"What is it?", she shouted nervously. Neptune just pointed, and the three pairs of eyes were now on her as MOBILE approached the small group, hands hidden behind her back.

"Hello again, everyone… I'm sorry for leaving you so suddenly, Iffy, but I had something to do, something important…", she let out, somewhat uncomfortable in her position.

"Like going to Lowee to fight against green dogoos?", IF threw back at her, pointing the screen towards the black-haired girl, who slightly shook, unaware that she was being filmed.

"Ah, yes, indeed… That is what I did."

"So, you ran off here, went to Lowee, fought the dogoos and came back in, like, 15 minutes?"

The young girl didn't answer, but her silence spoke louder than any words. Neptune was still distraught by Histy's suggestion, but the other two stared at Mobie with the eyes of disbelief. Unsatisfied with the answer, the leafy girl asked her what she used to get there so quickly.

"I… went on foot.", she answered, tapping her right heel on the floor, "I ran there."

None of them could figure out if she was so calm because she wanted to look cool, or if she truly found it to be normal. Histoire, with her keen eyes, had gotten interested on her, and rightfully so. In that small package of dark-clothed cuteness stood a mysterious power that could hardly be compared to the average newcomer that appeared before Neptune and the gang. The Oracle had kept something in mind from her conversation with her smaller version, which she was keen on following.

"Well, MOBILE, I thank you on behalf of Lowee's citizens for the help you gave them. I'm sure they're grateful that their city remains safe, even if they don't realize that you played a key role in the event. Regardless, I have a suggestion. Earlier, I convinced Neptune to spend more time with her citizens. What I thought up was: would you like Neptune to show you Planeptune?"

"Hmm… a city tour? That isn't needed, I can guide myself with my phone…", she answered, pointing to the mobile device in her hand.

Nep came forward. "But the guides you find on the internep don't explain just how amazing the city is! That's something you just gotta see for yourself!"

"I take it you agree with the idea, Neptune?", Histy asked.

"Why not? Oh, can I bring Iffy, too?"

"Not going to happen. I have work at the Guild during the afternoon."

"Awh, that sucks! I need my trusty IF with me to make it through the day…"

"No, you don't. Just be nice to MOBILE, and keep your meta ramblings to yourself, alright?", Iffy answered, looking towards Mobie as she spoke to her, "I hope you don't end up having to put up with it. I wouldn't wish that upon anyone, seriously…"

With their mutual agreement, Nep and Mobie left the Basilicom and roamed the city together. Instead of being like usual, the goddess remained silent while she observed the roads and buildings they walked by, perhaps looking for something in particular. As she did on the way in, the phone girl admired the beautiful futuristic design that permeated throughout the entire area, admittedly less impressive when lit by sunlight, rather than by its own colorful LED lights.

When alone with a goddess, Mobie was visibly uncomfortable, unable to shake off her status, regardless of her appearance and attitude. It's Histoire who seems to do the work, though, so she isn't much of a goddess, she thought. When put like that, it gave her some reassurance. With the way she walked around, and with the cheery, innocent smile that she had, it just had to be that.

Suddenly, an old lady greeted the goddess. With the same kindness, she replied, and more people came. "It's unusual to see you walking around the city, Lady Neptune! Are you not busy with the CPU Shift Period?", a mature, blonde woman asked.

"Nah, I'm not worried about that. I've done enough to show that I'm a great goddess, right?"

"But my mom says Lady Neptune is lazy and spends all day doing nothing…", a young girl added, much to Nep's embarrassment.

"Ahaha, that's not true at all! Your mom must have heard wrong, I'm not like that!"

"Whichever is true, you can be sure that we all support you. None of us want you to lose your position, and we will fight to keep you there!"

With the goddess out and about for the first time since the shifting period began, the words of support came to rain down on her. Despite her persona, she gladly took all of the support and rallied the citizens, as if they were her own army. With the group's presence, Mobie felt pushed away from her spot, but all she could see and hear was encouragement, a rally from a leader, for a leader. The goddess that stood before her could not only walk amongst a crowd as a normal person, but also place her status in sight to drive everyone forward, instead of bringing them down.

"Oh, everyone! I'm really happy that you all came to support me, but I was showing a new friend of mine around the city!", Nep shouted, freezing the mentioned girl in place as all the eyes turned to her, "I'll come back to meet you more often, I promise!"

Afraid of all the attention, Mobie sighed in relief when everyone looked back to the goddess and wished her luck in her fight, soon scattered around in their normal lives. Nep walked back to her with a radiant smile and bragged about how positive her citizens were, the effect mirrored on herself at all times. Eager to show Mobie more, the two ran off to discover more places, Neptune's knowledge of her city allied to MOBILE's constant search queries on her phone.

From the moment Neptune stopped working on paper, she hadn't eaten, and her belly kept asking for something. After a small pause, the two resumed the wild search, two excited tourists on a city they already seemed to know. With the endless fun, they only stopped to look at the sky when it was already dark, the city switched to the brash, shocking look of neon-colored lights. Up until then, both girls seemed equally surprised by what they found, but when night arrived, Neptune walked around as if she owned that magical place.

"This is your city… Did you really build all of this?"

"I didn't really build Planeptune, my citizens were the ones who did it. I'm just the goddess."

"You do something for the city, too… right?"

"I protect it, mostly. The last thing I want to do is leave my comfy Basilicom to go fight some beasts, but I do it when I have to.", the goddess answered with a fast arm motion, forming a long object in her hands from nothing. When it fully materialized, she separated handle from sheath to reveal a curved blade, adding to her previous statement, "You'll be hard-pressed to find anyone stronger than me around!"

When she saw the weapon, her hands immediately moved to stop Neptune. Nothing came out but a sudden gesture that she stopped halfway through, control over her body regained. Nep, when she noticed the move, immediately stepped back and apologized for startling her new friend. She explained that her weapon was made from Shares, and that she could summon it at will, much to the other's surprise.

"What's wrong, Mobie? You had goddesses in your dimension, didn't you? This isn't that surprising."

"Yes, yes, I've seen similar things before… I just didn't think that… YOU would be able to do it…"

"Me? I'm a goddess, of course I can do it!", she replied, with hands on her hips and a big smile, "Who do you take me, the great proganist, for?"

"…I don't believe it.", Mobie added, a phrase that sent the goddess into silence while the phone girl recollected her thoughts, "You're happy, cheerful, generous and optimistic… you lead this city so well, even though I can't see any… leader qualities in you, and you're so liked by everyone around you. I can't understand it."

Neptune, for once, thought a bit before speaking. "Well, I know I don't look like much of a goddess like this…", she replied, dropping the katana and its sheath on the ground, "Do you want to see the real look of Planeptune's goddess?"

The real look! MOBILE immediately agreed, ready to face anything that came to her.

The sword disappeared into thin air. Casually, Neptune turned to the side and walked straight into the middle of the empty road, where she stood, facing Mobie. She focused on something, the tension in her body amped up in a matter of seconds, only to be covered by a white glow. The goddess's body lifted from the ground, as if pulled by wires from above. In her awe, the human girl remembered one thing from the mythical tales of the past, the real identifier of a goddess.

Soon after, the shape of her clothes disappeared, leaving the contour of the naked body visible. Young and flat, it grew in size and shape, curves taking over from head to toes. Her purple hair, above shoulder height, spread wild behind her back, matched with the increased height of Planeptune's goddess. As it grew, it also twirled around itself into a twintail hairstyle, composed of two meter-long strands so sharply twisted that they resembled two lines of lozenges connected by the long edges.

On her skin, the change was different. Instead of clothes, her body was covered by Share energy that materialized itself into a skin-tight suit. It was nothing short of a virtual, simulated spectacle: data itself formed around her and adapted to her skin, designed to adjust to the smallest distance, and with it, the transformation approached its end. In the air, the goddess rose from her human shackles. When the glow faded, the human eye could finally see reality.

"This is who I really am, as a goddess. In this form, my name is Purple Heart.", the goddess said with a mature voice of a grown woman, calm and relaxed.

MOBILE fell on her rear, with no strength in her legs.

"There is something I wish to show you. Would you accompany me to the skies?"

Purple Heart extended her black and purple glove towards the human girl. Turned slightly to the side, she could see the elegant, grown body of who she called Neptune. Her bust size, easily in the Ds, came alongside a hourglass shape of her torso, while her suit did everything to reinforce the beauty of her figure, revealing the bust, thighs and belly button, yet covering the rest with a dark purple suit, adorned with all kinds of shiny lines and shapes. The hand stood in front, ready to take hers.

"Purple Heart…", Mobie mumbled as she took the goddess's hand.

"Indeed, that is me. Hopefully, you now believe me.", she answered, with a warm smile on her face, walking around the girl to place herself behind her back, "I take it you're not afraid of heights, right?"

"Afraid… of heights?", she asked. Right after, she felt two arms enveloped around her waist, the comfortable bust pressed against her rigid back. The mere thought of that proximity made her chill to the bone, frantically trying to get away from the goddess's hold.

"Listen, Mobie! I don't know what kind of horrific experiences you've gone through with goddesses in your world before, but that's not how it is around here!"

"I c-can't! It… it hurts to… to be here!", the little girl answered, tapping the other's arms.

"If that's so… then I'm going to ask you something.", the goddess added as she let the other go, only to place herself right in front of the girl, "Do you want to see why I work hard to do well for Gamindustri?"

A few minutes later, Purple Heart soared the skies, with a nervous girl between her arms. Lagging behind, the two strands of Purple Heart's hair flowed nicely against the wind as they advanced towards the tallest building in the city, the mighty Basilicom. Uncomfortable with the tight hold, Mobie hinted it at the flier, whose reaction was to twirl around herself to face upwards, with the girl now lying on her body.

"W-What, are we there already?", the young girl asked as she felt the speed decrease.

"I'd say we're high enough by now, MOBILE.", the goddess replied with one simple motion. Stretched horizontally, she bent her body into a sitting position in mid-air, laid on a purple field that appeared to hold her perfectly still. Still between her arms, the other girl ended up on her lap, with a gentler hold at that time. When asked about comfort, she didn't want to admit how cozy she felt in that position, even though they were outdoors, during the night.

"Now, look at Planeptune under us."

Her black pupils shined like a child's eyes. The shocking style of the city, which she had seen before, was even wilder when packed all at once within her viewpoint. The city itself stretched almost beyond view, despite the height the two hovered at, more alive at night than it appeared during the day.

"This city never sleeps. That's something I realized a long time ago. Regardless of whether I present myself to my citizens or not, they continue working for the well-being of the whole. They will continue as long as they believe I will be there for them when a strong enemy threatens the safety of those around. For as long as they feel safe, they will be happy, and that's all that I need to be happy."

Mobie looked around, both to the sides and around the goddess's body, unable to believe how nice the scenery was at such a time. As she moved, one of Purple Heart's hair tails swung over her body, gently caressing the side of her face. Calm and relaxed, she instinctively held onto it, as if it were a plushie.

"Honestly, being in this form tires me out. I'm not usually like this, as you've surely realized by now. However, my usual easygoing attitude doesn't cut it sometimes, and I have to change into this."

"I-If I may ask… how can you change personalities like that, so easily?"

The goddess, in her calm tone, let out a sweet giggle. "Well, you see, I don't change personalities; I'm also like this. It just feels more… natural to be serious when I'm in HDD: call it one of the many mysteries of a goddess."

"I see…"

Soon after, her eyes were half closed. In the warm embrace, the tiredness she accumulated caught up on her, and the sight she had of the big metropolis faded away, bit by bit, while she tried to stay awake."

"W-Why… did you do this for me, Miss Purple Heart?"

"All I want is to see your smile, Mobie."

The goddess, despite her age, was still caught by the splendor of the city whenever she took the time to look at it. The more she lived, the more memories she could reminisce while she hovered, in peace and quiet. Quite often, she lost track of time while she wondered, although rare were the times when she actually stopped to look at her city. When she came back to reality, she told the other girl that it was time to go back. However, she got no answer.

"Mobie?"

She looked over to see her face, half-hidden by her own purple hair. What she found was a drowsing MOBILE, comfortably snuggled in the goddess's large bust, with the happiest smile the goddess had seen on her yet. Unable to stop herself, the human fell asleep on the kind goddess's lap, much to the latter's surprise.

"Honestly… what am I supposed to do with you now?", she asked, unable to avoid a smile, "How adorable…"


	6. Chapter 5 - Obscurity

Black boots walked across a crystal room, shiny and clear. Every step they took echoed around the whole area, with the sharp noise of the high heels hitting the floor. A short girl endowed in black, contrasting with the colors around her, looked around while trying to connect to the phone in her right hand. Where am I, the phone girl asked herself, as she stopped in place, another body in her sights.

It was another female. Taller than herself, her long purple hair in the shape of two twirled strands reminded the girl of someone she had seen very recently. The rest was strange and unfamiliar: she was adorned in a white, bright costume that stuck to her skin, giving her the look of a beautiful angel, the golden finishes helping her body sparkle further. Once the shorter girl approached, she immediately turned to look at her.

"Welcome, MOBILE.", she said with a warm smile. The moment the female moved her arms, a white light rose from the shiny crystal floor, covering the area with quiet, pleasing sounds, warm and angelical. The walls of the room were blurry and hard to distinguish, further so when the angelical being moved her arms, shifting the dimensions around.

"Where… is this place?", the younger female asked, feeling herself tipped off her balance, only to remain perfectly still. The ground that moved under her feet was but an illusion, one that felt soothing the more Mobie looked at it, "Am I dead?"

"Not quite… what you have found here is the single wish you've had all this time, the biggest of them all.", the mature voice replied. Right as the phone girl pieced who it could belong to in her mind, the figure turned around itself, displaying the same smile that was burned in her mind. Adorned in white, with the same hourglass body type, Purple Heart stood before her, her smile alone the biggest blessing.

MOBILE's mouth opened to ask further questions, but she seemed to absorb the answer by looks alone. The outfit she wore, albeit holy, was skin-tight and it exposed several parts of the woman's body, from her thighs to her shoulders and a considerable cleavage, along with a hole in the front revealing her belly button. At the same time, she appeared innocent and teasing. Narrowing her eyes, the other girl wondered what the goddess knew of her wishes.

"Not much… but I can tell what you wish for, somewhat."

With a single gesture, the two wings behind the goddess's back flapped, arching around her as she extended her arms towards the black-haired girl. The goddess spoke no further, only with a warm smile and a relaxed body posture. A goddess, an angel, and everything else she could be at that moment, with a small space between her arms for the chosen one to be snuck between them and the big, comfortable bust on display on Purple Heart's chest.

Despite the vague answer, Mobie felt completely open, unable to fight back against her friend's approach. The same figure of kindness and beauty that Purple Heart showed her before had come back ten-fold, drawing her in, step by step. Her heart was racing and her hands shook ever so slightly as she stepped towards Planeptune's ruler.

When she was about to grab the younger female, she felt the black shoulders stop right at the tips of her white, gloved fingers. With a concerned look, she found Mobie stuck in place, her eyes screaming for something that her body couldn't answer to. Her doubt was visible in the body posture alone, shrunk and contorted. When asked about what was wrong, the phone girl muttered something incomprehensible.

"You don't have to hesitate. If no one else is going to look after you, Mobie, then I will.", she pointed out, only to see the dark eyes water slightly, "All that I need is that you let me give you the tender affection only a goddess can give."

Her fingers rubbed Mobie's shoulders ever so lightly. She felt the touch tense her up, and at the same time relieve her bit by bit. She could slip either way, and Mobie felt she had the choice to fall back and leave that scene altogether. The touch she felt wasn't pressuring, it was no more than a tip to the angel's presence, and her availability.

"You should know that…", the shorter girl let out. She had her mouth open to speak further, but the lips came to join each other again. She questioned her doubts, again and again, every time she laid eyes on the purple angel in front of her. Her hair waved gracefully behind her bright body, animated by some kind of magic, enticing, hypnotizing. Afraid to tackle her savior, Mobie tilted towards her, letting herself fall.

When she looked, Purple Heart was already a step ahead to catch her body. MOBILE, in the instant of collision, felt her body wake up to life once more, revitalized by the comfortable touch her skin met. Caught by the woman's chest, she held onto her waist, surrounded by the warmth of the white arms that warmed her heart. The goddess's outfit, beautiful as it was refined, was incredibly delicate to the touch, as if it was a part of her skin, soft and delicate as the rest of her own.

With every passing instant, she felt lighter. The weight of her burdens was shedding off, or the pressure of her actions was melting away, or the pain of her circumstances was evaporating elsewhere. Every breath out was a sigh of relief, slow and steady. Far more than the physical relieving, she was swarmed by a feeling of belonging. Soon after, she felt one of the goddess's hands petting her head.

Comforting words soon followed. "It feels better now, doesn't it? Whatever the void that fills you is, there has to be a way I can help with it…", the goddess spoke, in her calm tone.

"G-Goddesses help create, not destroy… It's not enough that I had been forced into loneliness because of the destruction, but the only ruler we had made it her life goal to flatten everything in her sight…"

"If you were looking for a true goddess, then you have found her.", Purple Heart replied, as she watched the black pupils rise up towards her face, "I hold my dear Planeptune as proof of it, and I hope that you will be a part of it, and help shape the city into the beauty I've always dreamed it to be."

"You… you really mean that?", Mobie asked, as if she couldn't believe the answer already given, the corners of her mouth rising in incredulity.

The goddess nodded affirmatively, with a slow gesture, adding, "We get our power and energy from the Shares, which come from the people's beliefs. For as long as you believe in me, Mobie, I will also believe in you."

She held Purple Heart tighter, hearing a quiet giggle in response. Shifted strangely onto her, she felt herself losing her footing, looking down to find her feet off the ground, along with the goddess's, the pair hovering above the white field that served as their foothold. The strange magic she casted enveloped the two more closely, losing the appearance of a room. In the moment, they were hovering near nothing, only close to a white, angelic mist.

They remained still, long enough for the smaller girl to lose track of time. Deeply enveloped in the goddess's scene, she felt a strange, curious desire climbing up to where her sensation of peace and tranquility were. The warmth, the softness, it was all getting to her. The moment she looked up to the purple-haired woman's face, she found her warm smile again, pulling her in closer and closer, the soft, gentle breath against her nose, the blue eyes slowly shutting close…

Suddenly, they opened again. In her hazy sight, Mobie discerned a solid, flat ceiling, leading to walls to her left, her back, and in front, at a distance. She felt her happy, filled smile shiver for a bit, unsure, until she turned to the beautiful goddess that held her so caringly. In her arms, she found the bed sheets all jumbled up, her body half-hidden under them.

Her eyes spread as wide as they could go. Loud and awake, her pupils shivered in the white vastness around them, and her hands shook together, clenching the covers harder than anything else. The eyesight, clear for a moment, hazed strangely, wet and watery. She looked around once more, trying to save the happiness that filled her body before, but she only faced the rest of her new bedroom, calm and silent, deadly silent.

The noise of her breathing filled the silence. Fast, nervous and erratic, she inhaled and exhaled without rhythm, barely managing to keep herself steady. The idyllic comfort, long gone, left a gaping hole inside, a hole that sucked away the air she tried to manage. She still saw the angel in her eyes, fainter and fainter, the mere memory about to disappear, not from forgetfulness but from rejection, fiction that couldn't be reality.

Her eyes slowly shut again, the wetness sliding off into a pair of sorrowful tears. Holding onto the covers, she pictured Purple Heart's touch; at first, how much it resembled that softness, and that warmth, with enough imagination, but then the vast difference chilled her bones. The emptiness gave in to the happiness once more, but only to stab, to puncture it, in a sadistic torture towards the ultimate wish, simply for being a wish.

Through the motions, she felt herself return to the encompassing sleep. In her tears, she was to rest once more, until the image that she longed for shifted within her vision one last time, just to pull the girl's mind right back into it, back into the dreams. In the same pose, she drifted off, quiet and still outside but with her emotions in riot inside.

Outside, the night has already established itself a long while ago, with the brightly, yet silently buzzing of Planeptune's own citizens, both in and out of the Basilicom. Mostly free of regular people, but occupied by guards, ministers and the own goddesses of the nation, the central building always had its lights on. While the main goddess slept away in her purple-colored bed, drooling onto her pillow, in a room far larger than the one MOBILE was given access to, her younger sibling stepped around the corridors, with boxes that were transported around. Opening them, she looked at metal pieces of different kinds, which she happily pretended to tinker with in the moment, before storing them back and walking out to fetch more. Somewhat puzzled, she turned in a different direction, unsure as to where all of her materials were.

Calmly, she walked around the place, playing with her long hair. To her right were several rooms, some open and some closed off, all of them ignored by the Candidate as she continued towards the other end of the corridor, hoping to reach the main hall of that floor there. Suddenly, she caught the faint sound of a voice, a female-sounding voice muffled behind the walls around her.

She stopped to focus on it. The voice appeared young, girly, but was completely incomprehensible. Stepping towards it, she heard it groan uncomfortably, coupled with the noises of a body shifting around in a mattress, softly but surely, with a tone that was somewhat familiar to her, although Nepgear couldn't quite put her finger on it. Despite her curiosity, she kept walking.

Suddenly, as she was about to step past the next door, closed shut, she heard it louder. Despite being half-muffled, she caught the voice clearly. From the other side, rough screams of agony sounded off, pulled from the depth of the female's vocal chords, so hard that it felt like it was hurting her throat. Gear's body chilled, frozen still by the sound alone. As she screamed, the goddess heard her turning around on the bed, suddenly muffled further, but still audible.

Moved by a sense of urgency, she hesitantly reached for the door, knocking on it with her shivering hands. "Who's there? What's happening?"; she asked in a worried tone, with no response from the other side. The screams remained as they were before, Gear's questions falling into deaf ears. Stifled by her respect for privacy, she remained still for a few moments more, hoping the voice would quiet down.

When she tried to move away, her body didn't respond, only willing to step forward to assist the girl in trouble. Determined, the Candidate spun the door knob and walked inside, frantically examining the room. All around her was calm and stillness, until she turned her eyes to the bed at the other corner of the room and saw a familiar body, turned face-down on the single bed in the room, the female's face buried in her pillow. Slowly, she stepped towards the other girl, visibly shivering in fear of what she'd find, looking closer.

A dark, hazy scene, in tones of gray and brown. Ground flattened into nothing, with rubble of previously grand buildings scattered across it. In the distance, a single crimson-red light lit the entire scene, brighter and brighter as it neared to pulverize the shreds to dust, forcing a hellish-red tone on the whole area before it all ceased to be. In the distance, an evil fit of laughter sounded off.

The images flashed in her mind. The remains of a tall building, struck by the crimson light, crashed down on the unsuspecting citzens below. A little girl, bellowing her heart out, had her legs crushed by a massive stone segment. Next to her, a father figure begged for help, only to get smashed by the falling rubble. Crawling along the ground, MOBILE saw everything from ground level, dragging her bloodied limbs out of the town.

Moments later, she heard desperate screaming, lifting her sore head to find a woman risen above the ground by a tall, red-colored deity, who laughed maniacally while she gathered her energy. Unable to look, she only heard the scream go silent, immediately splashed with the blood of the most recent victim. Trying to crawl away, she was pulled up by her hair, screaming in pain as she saw the crimson, devilish eyes of the only goddess in her realm, staring at her morbid state with satisfaction hardly seen anywhere else.

In her despair, she crackled ever so slightly with some sort of electricity, permeating her entire body, following the lines of her clothing. Desperate, she held onto the sides of her head, face dug into the pillow, with Nepgear standing next to her, speechless, only trying to move closer. The moment her fingers touched the electric field, she immediately recoiled, stung by a soft, yet deep physical pain, the crackles bending towards her body the moment it hit her.

In the heat of the moment, she stepped away, her heart racing with fear. Looking around for support, she found herself alone with the crying girl, until accelerated footsteps came off from the corridor, ending up with a brown-haired girl, wearing a leafy bow-tie, storming into the room. "Iffy!", the Candidate shouted, barely able to put her voice together.

"Nepgear! What happened to Mobie?", the other girl asked, immediately headed towards the girl, feeling the fear shaking her insides, harder and harder the closer she got to her friend.

"I d-don't know, I heard her like this just now, and I came-", Nepgear tried to explain, seeing IF reaching to touch the girl, "No, wait!"

Firmly, she held onto one of MOBILE's arms, feeling nothing but a desperate will to turn her around to look her in the eyes. Without resistance, the black-clothed teen spun around herself. "Mobie, what's wrong!? Get a hold of yourself!", Iffy shouted, facing the girl's soaked-wet face, drenched in her own tears and drool. In her hand, she felt her shaking, trying to get off the blue-coated female's hold with the little strength she could muster.

"Mobie! MOBILE!", she kept shouting, holding the girl with both hands, to no avail. In her fit, she gasped for air repeatedly, unable to catch her breath, eyes pointed at IF but looking past her, almost as if to a place she couldn't look away from, the face of terror printed on her looks. Out of words, Iffy asked herself what to do, facing her new friend as if she was about to die, only to pull the shivering body right up to hers, embracing it as tightly as she could. After a short while, she felt her friend's arms wrap around her shoulders, her sobbing quieting down bit by bit.

Carefully, she sat on the bed next to Mobie, still hugging her, patting her with comforting words. Despite her young looks, she appeared as a mother next to the fragile phone girl, who gradually quieted down to silence over the next couple of minutes, while Nepgear watched the entire scene without saying a word. As her friend calmed down, so did IF. When the child moved away to look at her comforter, she found her peaceful green eyes, melting the last of her worries. In the moment, she only managed a small smile, two last tears rolling down her wet cheeks.

Between sniffs, the traumatized girl finally spoke, "T-Thank you, Iffy… I-I… I shouldn't have… allowed this to h-happen…".

"Don't worry about it, Mobie. Are you feeling better now?", the other girl replied, trying to present a warm smile to her friend, who sniffed once as she tried to answer the question.

From her right, Mobie saw something move closer to her face, a napkin handed to her by Planeptune's Candidate, who stood there with an uneasy-looking pose. "Thank you, Miss Nepgear.", the black-haired girl replied, earning a surprised look from the other with pink hair.

"I'll… excuse myself out, to leave you two alone…"

"Wait, Miss Nepgear!"

Before she could walk outside, the younger sister turned to the voice. The girl she had tried to help before, standing up, wiped her own face with the napkin. Despite her fragile, childish moment, her eyes showed resolve, and she immediately stepped forward to keep Nepgear inside, telling the Candidate that she too saw her state, and as such was involved in the situation just as much as IF.

"There is something I need to tell you two…", she added as she walked to close the door before she joined the other girls on the mattress, sitting between the two, "I'm not even sure how to put it… To be honest, my past was much darker than I ever wished it would be. I… came from another dimension and, there, us humans built our cities without any goddess around."

"Without goddesses? So, there weren't any?", Nepgear asked, visibly affected by the statement.

"Yes, that is true. It was rumored that there were some in the past, but it must have been so long ago that it became nothing more than a myth. Those that believed in their existence and in their power, like me, were brushed off as an insane cult, mostly because of what some of those believers did, fueled by their beliefs. Despite the lack of such a leader, we had our own society, led by men and women just like us, even if it was not… optimally structured."

Amidst her speech, Iffy noticed her legs shifting around in an uncomfortable state, her twiddling of thumbs, and her lack of visual focus, shifting her eyes around several places in the room. In a hesitant, yet kind gesture, she laid a hand on one of Mobie's thighs, covered by her black leggings. With that simple gesture, she earned a smile from the girl.

"It wasn't that bad, living in that society, not at all. The only problem was that, without a figure of physical power, each citizen had to defend themselves from attacks, since the army that previously served the country was corrupted by greed to serve as mercenaries, abandoning the leaders that couldn't afford to keep up with their increasingly expensive demands. Without a single icon of power, we had to send the masses to defeat monsters, and many paid for it with their lives… But that was nothing compared to when we had a goddess joining us."

In her last words, she felt her voice cracking. The memories ripped her apart bit by bit, just from being remembered. When asked about the goddess, Mobie replied that she was not born as one, but was able to obtain the power to handle Share Energy in an unknown way. Combining with her crimson colors, she left a trail of blood and destruction in her wake, condemning everyone that attempted to settle themselves in her kingdom.

"I have seen so much blood, so much death… The agonizing screams of those that clung to the rope of their lives… I try to suppress everything, because otherwise I won't be able to function properly.", she added, pasting looks of worry in the other two faces, while her own contorted ever so slightly, trying to keep her tears inside, "But sometimes... sometimes, they just come to me and it's… it's these waking nightmares that you saw, and with them… the same kind of pain that I felt back then, the same fear, desperation, all of those things at once…"

Suddenly, she noticed the goddess on her right moving a bit. Looking towards her, she found Nepgear ready to speak. "Um, MOBILE… I don't know how it is over in your dimension… but over here, things are different. I'm a goddess myself, even if just a Candidate goddess, and I work to make Gamindustri a better place for everyone that lives in it. So does my big sister, and all the other goddesses. You were with Neptune before, weren't you?"

"Histoire told me that Nep came back to the Basilicom with you, as Purple Heart, and that you were already sleeping."

Confused, Mobie looked at the other two, trying to remember her time before blacking out. "Oh, yes, I suppose that might have happened… I remember her transformation, and then we were together for a while, and then… I must have fallen asleep."

As she put the pieces together in her mind, she recollected the moment in which the purple goddess had carried her upwards to have a sky view of the city, where she sat on Purple Heart's lap. She recalled a strange sense of comfort, very similar to what she felt when near the angel in her dream. Nepgear and IF, looking at her as she intently stared forward, thinking, noticed her cheeks darken with a red hue, heating up in a hurry.

"W-Well!", she shouted, surprising the other two as she stood up, ready and determined, "I am much better now, thanks to the two of you, and I cannot thank you enough for being here for me. I would like this to stay between the three of us for as long as possible, for this is not a side of me that I'm happy with. Regardless, I don't think I can fall asleep so soon, so there is nothing for me to do in this room. Shall we go?"

The other two looked at each other, confused by the sudden change of mood.

With little delay, the trio walked outside into the corridors of the central building. "Well, to be honest with you, I wasn't doing anything in particular.", the leafy bow-tie girl replied, when asked about what she was doing to find herself crossing past the other girl's room, "Earlier, I went through some routine nightly checks with Histoire, and when we were done, we chatted for a bit. That's when she told me about you and Neptune, and I came to check on you."

"I was tinkering with a few pieces I bought in the junkyard… I was thinking of building something new, but I don't have any ideas…", Nepgear added, earning a stronger gaze from Mobie, which quickly made her blush, "I-It's just one of my hobbies! I know it's weird, but I like it!"

"That's okay, I like some strange things too.", Mobie replied, waving the phone that she held in her right hand, one that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"Many people like their smartphones, I don't think that's weird at all.", Iffy pointed out, pulling out her own.

"Oh, but I don't like them in that way… Maybe I'll get to explain this in more detail later. I have many secrets, after all~"

"Speaking of secrets, Mobie! You have to tell me how you did that earlier today, when you helped defend Lowee and then came back to Planeptune so quickly."

"That's not something you can be told, IF!", the snarky girl replied, turning around to walk backwards, looking at the girl she spoke with, "I can show you some of what I can do with this body later, if you desire. I promise you won't be disappointed!"

"Oh, and…", the third female added, "There was something you did back there… you had some kind of electricity around you, and when I touched you, it stung me… but Iffy was fine!"

Mobie nodded, extending her arm towards the goddess. With little effort, it began to crackle in the same fashion as her body was before, visibly scaring the Candidate. "This is the type of magic I specialize on. It is not the only kind I can use, but it has a special interaction with goddess, or, more specifically, Share Energy. The stinging you felt was my ability disabling your powers a tiny bit."

"That's… that's possible? It doesn't seem to be anything close to what Arfoire has used in the past to shut us goddesses down."

"Arfoire? I don't know who that is, but there are many ways to interact with Share Energy. If you research it well, you might find something else, entirely new. That applies to almost any new field, be it science, magic, philosophy, law, amongst many others. Many discoveries are accidental, but that should never discourage an interested worker from experimenting with new things, because accidents only happen when the conditions are set for them to."

While calm and relaxed, the two Planeptune citizens were slowly being drawn in by the newcomer's speech. "The desire to innovate, to break the current boundaries and to find the next ones, is an invaluable asset to success in areas where progress seems limited, and even in those where it doesn't. The fact that one of the goddesses themselves enjoys tinkering with machines is quite weird in my eyes, mostly due to my background. However, when I know of such things, I can more easily understand why you have such a grand city around us. That's on you too, Miss Nepgear."

"Ahaha… thank you for the compliment, but, really, that was mostly my sister, for a very long time… She's been around for much longer than I, so…"

Iffy, unable to stop herself, joined in. "That might be true, but you've stood up for yourself and saved Planeptune, and Gamindustri at a time when your sister couldn't. That goes for all of you Candidates."

"I did, but only because you and all the others stuck with me all that time! If it weren't for you, I'd never find the courage to stand up for myself…"

Noticing an open door, Nepgear walked inside, followed by the other two. As a group, they grabbed the boxes that were in that space and carried them to the same room where the goddess had piled up the rest of the metal pieces, speaking of the adventures they had together while the four main goddesses were trapped, and afterwards too weak to fight for Gamindustri.

MOBILE kept a flurry of questions directed at the other two, nothing but curiosity in her mind. Even after they finished their task, they stood with Nepgear in the vacant room she was using to tinker with her robotic belongings, cleared of any furniture but a single closet in the corner, and an array of tables stretching the four walls of the space, several of them with strange, unfinished gadgets on top of them.

"Wow, you have a lot of different things in progress here… with all this, you will most likely leave most of them unfinished, so you best not start too many at once!"

"Ahaha, yeah, I agree… Actually, most of these are unfinished because I didn't have the pieces to finish them. I sort of… try to collect and make do with what I have, instead of buying specifically for everything I build. That gives the task more enjoyment, I think."

"Then let me assist you, Miss Nepgear. I will help you take the pieces of those boxes and arrange them in groups, so you have a better idea of what you've gotten.", the black-haired propose, to the Candidate's surprise, "Don't worry, I know more about this sort of thing than you believe me to."

Together, the two makeshift mechanics worked on the tools that they had gathered in the room. IF, clearly out of place, excused herself out after a short while, wishing the other two a good night, and ensuring that her new friend would be fine by herself after that experience. Tightening her oversized blue coat around her front, she walked outside, directed out of the Basilicom, towards her own place.

"I don't get it…", she thought to herself, buried in her own mind as she walked across the chilly streets of Planeptune, "She says that it's her kind of magic, and so it appears… but she used it when she was completely out of control, in the exact same way that she appeared to use it at will. Magic starts in the user's thinking! Who is this girl?"

A couple of hours later, the mystery magician walked back inside her room, door shut close with a happy smile in her face. Back on the bed, she shifted her hands under the pillow, only to find the clothing she had slept in the night before, tucked nicely under it, just as she had left it the morning before. Reluctantly, she changed into the new clothes, the soft fabric, somewhat furry on the outside, pleasing her more than she had expected.

"This kind of clothing… makes me look better.", she thought, looking at her chest. Unlike her large, thick coat that flattened her chest, the tighter shirt she had on pronounced her torso curves better, along with the size of her bust, pushing a satisfied smile onto her face. "It's a shame… nobody can see it.", she let out, carefully sliding under the warm covers.

With the smile still up, she laid face up, holding her precious phone on her chest, with both hands around it.

"…I did not know you took so fondly to other girls…"

"S-Shut up right now, CRISTA!"


End file.
